m 


HOMILIES 


OF 


SCIENCE 


DR.  PAUL  CARUS. 


Trvra  f 

TO  Kdhbv  K(lTfXET£. 

Paulus  ad  Tkrss,  I  Ep.  j,  21 


CHICAGO: 

THE  OPEN  COURT  PUBLISHING  COMPANY. 
1892. 

' 


THE    LATE 


*  (Sustav  Cams 

first  Superintendent  ffieneral  of  the  Cburcb  of  fiaetern  an&  TDHestern 
Prussia  and  Doctor  of  Ubeologs 


i»ouf6  not  0al?e  agreed  to  f#e  main  doctrines 
of  t0i0  fiooft 

i»^o0e  fife  exemplified  it0 


PREFACE. 

THESE  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE  first  appeared  as  editorial 
articles  in  The  Open  Court.  The  principle  that  pervades 
them  is  to  preach  an  ethics  that  is  based  upon  truth  and  upon 
truth  alone.  Truth  is  a  correct  statement  of  fact.  Truth  ac- 
cordingly is  demonstrable  by  the  usual  methods  of  science,  and 
whenever  a  statement  appears  to  be  incorrect  or  insufficient  every- 
body has  a  right  to  examine  it,  either  for  refutation  or  verification, 
and  in  this  sense  the  book  was  named  "  Homilies  of  Science." 

There  is  a  difficulty  in  writing  Homilies  of  Science.  This 
difficulty  consists  mainly  in  the  fact  that  they  must  appeal  through 
thought  to  the  will  ;  they  must  convey  sentiment  without  being 
sentimental ;  they  should  not  employ  emotional  arguments  and 
they  have  to  dispense  with  all  the  charms  of  traditional  religious 
poetry.  Moreover  they  stand  in  opposition  to  and  have  to  counter- 
act a  very  popular  error,  viz.,  the  view  that  a  full  knowledge  of  the 
laws  of  this  world  would  rather  dispose  a  man  to  become  immoral 
than  to  purify  and  ennoble  his  soul.  The  belief  is  not  uncommon 
that  a  moral  teacher  has  either  to  suppress  some  of  the  facts  or  to 
add  some  fictitious  facts.  The  rules  of  morality  it  is  often  sup- 
posed, can  be  justified  through  pious  fraud  alone. 

If  that  were  so,  morality  would  stand  in  contradiction  to 
science  and  the  holiest  feelings,  the  deepest  wants,  the  highest 
aspirations  of  mankind  would  be  mere  illusions. 

The  "Homilies  of  Science"  are  not  hostile  towards  the  estab- 
lished religions  of  traditional  growth.  They  are  hostile  towards 
the  dogmatic  conception  only  of  these  religions.  Nor  are  they 


VI  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

hostile  towards  freethought.  Standing  upon  the  principle  of  avow- 
ing such  truths  alone  as  can  be  proved  by  science,  they  reject  that 
kind  of  freethought  only  which  refuses  to  recognise  the  authority 
of  the  moral  law. 

The  Religion  upheld  in  these  Homilies  may  be  called  Natural 
Religion  to  the  extent  that  it  takes  its  stand  upon  the  facts  of  na- 
ture, that  is,  the  experiences  of  life  or  the  data  furnished  us  by  the 
world  in  which  we  live.  It  may  be  called  the  Religion  of  Science  in 
so  far  as  the  statement  of  these  facts  must  be  done  with  scientific 
exactness  and  critical  circumspection.  It  may  be  called  the  Religion 
of  Humanity,  in  so  far  as  it  finds  its  aim  in  the  elevation,  progress, 
and  amelioration  of  mankind.  It  may  be  called  Cosmic  Religion 
in  so  far  as  its  ethics  rests  upon  the  consideration  that  every  indi- 
vidual is  a  part  of  the  great  whole  of  All-existence.  It  may  be 
called  the  Religion  of  Life,  for  it  is  concerned  with  the  salvation 
of  the  human  soul,  so  as  to  make  man  fit  to  live  and  to  meet  the 
duties  of  life.  Or  it  may  be  called  the  Religion  of  Immortality, 
for  it  teaches  us  how  through  obedience  to  the  moral  law  our  lives 
can  become  building-stones  in  the  temple  of  humanity  which  will 
remain  forever  as  living  presences  in  future  generations.  It  pre- 
serves the  human  soul,  even  though  the  body  die,  and  gives  it  life 

everlasting. 

* 
*  * 

Many  a  reader  will  ask,  how  did  this  peculiar  combination  of 
seemingly  opposed  ideas  come  about  which  are  on  the  one  hand  so 
unflinchingly  radical  and  iconoclastic  and  on  the  other  hand  so 
tenaciously  conservative  and  religious  ?  The  answer  is,  They  de- 
veloped naturally  ;  they  are  the  result  of  the  author's  life,  and  the 
product  of  his  experiences. 

From  my  childhood  I  was  devout  and  pious,  my  faith  was  as 
confident  as  that  of  Simon,  whom,  for  his  firmness,  Christ  called 
the  rock  of  his  church.  On  growing  up,  I  decided  to  devote 
myself  as  a  missionary  to  the  service  of  Christianity.  But  alas ! 
inquiring  into  the  foundations  of  that  fortress  which  I  was  going 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  VII 

to  defend,  I  found  the  whole  of  the  building  undermined.  I  grew 
unbelieving  and  an  enemy  to  Christianity.  Yet  in  the  depth  of 
my  soul  I  remained  thoroughly  religious.  I  aroused  myself  and 
gathered  the  fragments  from  the  wreck,  which  my  heart  had  suf- 
fered. Instinctively  I  felt  that  some  golden  grain  must  be  amongst 
the  chaff. 

When  my  confidence  in  dogmatic  Christianity  broke  down, 
I  lamented  the  loss,  but  after  I  had  worked  my  way  through  to 
clearness  I  saw  that  the  pure  gold  is  so  much  more  valuable  than 
the  ore  from  which  it  is  gained.  I  have  lost  the  dross  only,  the 
slags  and  ashes,  but  my  religious  ideals  have  been  purified.  My 
life  was  such  that  I  could  not  help  becoming  a  missionary,  but  I 
became  a  missionary  of  that  religion  which  knows  of  no  dogmas, 
which  can  never  come  in  conflict  with  science,  which  is  based  on 
simple  and  demonstrable  truth.  This  religion  is  not  in  conflict 
with  Christianity.  Nor  is  it  in  conflict  with  Judaism  or  Moham- 
medanism, or  Buddhism,  or  any  other  religion.  For  it  is  the  goal 
and  aim  of  all  religions. 

I  see  now  Christianity,  and  the  other  religions  also,  in  another 
light.  The  old  Christianity  had  to  stand  or  fall  with  certain  dog- 
mas. The  new  Christianity  is  identical  with  truth.  It  is  no  longer 
belief  in  a  dead  letter,  but  faith,  a  living  faith  in  truth ;  and  no 
scientific  progress  will  ever  destroy  it, 

Every  religion  has  the  tendency  to  drop  all  sectarianism  and 
to  develop  into  broad  humanitarianism.  Every  religion  will  in  its 
natural  growth  mature  into  a  cosmical  religion. 

How  many  thousand  hearts  investigate  like  me  !  They  have 
believed  and  doubted,  they  have  criticised  and  condemned.  And 
how  many  that  winnow  the  wheat,  lose  the  grain  together  with 

the  chaff ! 

*  * 

I  hope  that  wherever  my  work  is  inadequate,  and  I  heartily 
wish  it  were  better  in  every  respect,  others  will  come  after  me  to 

do  it  better  than  I  did. 

THE  AUTHOR. 


"  Prove  all  things ;  hold  fast  that  which  is  good."— St.  Paul. 

"  Free  enquiry  into  truth  from  all  points  of  view  is  the  sole  remedy  against 
illusions  and  errors  of  any  kind."—  Herder. 

"Let  there  be  no  compulsion  in  religion."— Koran. 

"  The  ink  of  the  sage  and  the  blood  of  the  martyr  have  the  same  value  in 
heaven." — Koran. 

"  Ein  Mensch  ohne  Wissenschaft  ist  wie  ein  Soldat  ohne  Degen,  wie  ein 
Acker  ohne  Regen  ;  er  ist  wie  ein  Wagen  ohne  Rader,  wie  ein  Schreiber  ohne 
Feder  ;  Gott  selbst  mag  die  Eselskopf  nicht  leiden." — Abraham  a  Sancta 
Clara. 

"  Science  ye  shall  honor 
Far  from  vainglorious  pride. 
For  God's  are  those  who  teach, 
And  God's  are  those  who  aspire. 
He  who  science  praises,  praises  God." — Koran. 

"  God  is  an  empty  tablet  upon  which  nothing  is  found  but  what  thou  hast 
written  thyself." — M.  Luther. 

"Despair  alone  is  genuine  atheism." — J.  Paul Richter. 
"  God  is  wherever  right  is  done." — Schiller 

"  The  purpose  of  true  religion  should  be  to  impress  in  the  soul  the  prin. 
ciplcs  of  morality.  I  cannot  conceive  how  it  has  come  about  that  men.  espe. 
cially  the  teachers  of  religion,  could  deviate  so  far  from  that  purpose."— 
Leibnitz. 

The  world  order  is  the  basis  of  ethics. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


RELIGION  AND  RELIGIOUS  GROWTH. 

PAGE. 

Is  Religion  Dead  ? i 

To  Fulfil  Not  to  Destroy 4 

The  Vocation 8 

Religion  Based  upon  Facts 13 

The  Religious  Problem 18 

New  Wine  in  Old  Bottles. . 22 

The  Revision  of  a  Creed 28 

The  Religion  of  Progress 32 

PROGRESS  AND  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

The  Test  of  Progress 36 

The  Ethics  of  Evolution 43 

Fairy-Tales  and  Their  Importance 48 

The  Value  of  Mysticism 52 

The  Unity  of  Truth 58 

Living  the  Truth 63 

Thanksgiving-Day 68 

Christmas 71 

GOD  AND  WORLD. 

Revelation 75 

God 79 

Design  in  Nature 83 

The  Conceptions  of  God 90 

Is  God  a  Mind  ? 99 

Is  the  Infinite  a  Religious  Idea  ? 108 

God,  Freedom,  and  Immortality 113 

Prometheus  and  the  Fate  of  Zeus 117 


X  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

THE  SOUL  AND  THE  LAWS  OF  SOUL-LIFE. 

PAGE. 

Enter  Into  Nirvana 121 

The  Human  Soul 127 

The  Unity  of  the  Soul 133 

Ghosts 137 

The  Religion  of  Resignation 143 

The  Religion  of  Joy 148 

The  Festival  of  Resurrection. .            151 

DEATH  AND  IMMORTALITY. 

The  Conquest  cf  Death 155 

The  Price  of  Eternal  Youth 158 

Religion  and  Immortality 163 

Spiritism  and  Immortality 166 

Immortality  and  Science 174 

Death,  Love,  Immortality 185 

FREETHOUGHT,   DOUBT,   AND  FAITH. 

Freethought,  its  Truth  and  its  Error 189 

The  Liberal's  Folly 195 

The  Mote  and  the  Beam 200 

Superstition  in  Religion  and  Science 206 

The  Question  of  Agnosticism 213 

The  Bible  and  Freethought 221 

Faith  and  Doubt 227 

The  Heroes  of  Freethought 250 

ETHICS  AND  PRACTICAL  LIFE. 

The  Hunger  After  Righteousness 233 

Ethics  and  the  Struggle  for  Life 239 

Render  Not  Evil  for  Evil 245 

Religion  and  Ethics 252 

The  Ethics  of  Literary  Discussion .  .* 256 

Sexual  Ethics 260 

Monogamy  and  Free  Love 263 

Morality  and  Virtue 269 

SOCIETY  AND  POLITICS. 

Aristocratomania 276 

Socialism  and  Anarchism 283 

Looking  Forward 288 

Womon  Emancipation 294 

Do  We  Want  a  Revolution 298 

The  American  Ideal 305 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE 


IS  RELIGION  DEAD? 


ONE  of  the  greatest  historians  of  morals  says  :  Re- 
ligion has  ceased  to  be  the  moving  power  in  our  na- 
tional and  in  our  private  life.  Interest  in  theological 
discussions  is  nowhere  to  be  found,  not  even  in  the 
churches.  What  do  the  people  care  for  the  religious 
issues  of  former  days  ?  They  are  quite  indifferent 
about  the  interpretation  of  Bible  passages  and  the 
sacraments,  which  in  former  centuries  caused  sangui- 
nary wars  among  nations.  And  a  great  French  phi- 
losopher announces  the  advent  of  an  irreligious  age, 
where  creeds  will  disappear,  where  no  church  shall 
exist,  and  religion  shall  cease  to  be. 

Contemplating  the  habits  and  the  life  of  our  age,  we 
are  struck  by  a  noticeable  change  in  the  general  ten- 
dencies of  men.  It  seems  that  everything  has  become 
more  worldly,  more  realistic,  and  more  practical.  Yes, 
more  practical  !  and  I  should  say  there  is  no  harm  in 
being  practical,  if  the  ideal  world  be  not  lost  in  the 
realistic  aims  which  we  pursue,  if  our  hearts  be  still 
aglow  with  the  sacred  fire  of  holy  aspiration  for  purity, 
for  honor,  and  above  all,  for  truth  !  Let  us  be  practical, 
and  let  us  more  and  more  become  so,  in  applying  the 
highest  ideals  to  our  everyday  life  and  in  realizing 
them  ! 

The  God  of  old  Religion  said  through  the  mouth 
of  one  of  his  prophets  :  "  Lo,  I  make  all  things  new." 
And  a  psalmist  of  the  western  world  sings  in  one  of 


2  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

his  deepest  lays  :  "There  is  no  death — what  seems  so, 
is  transition."  Nature  cannot  die,  it  may  undergo 
changes,  but  it  will  live  forever.  Nature  is  life,  it  is 
the  fountain  of  eternal  youth. 

Learn  to  understand  the  signs  of  the  time.  If  you 
see  the  leaves  turn  yellow  and  red  and  shine  in  all 
colors,  know  that  autumn  is  at  hand.  The  leaves  will 
fall  to  the  ground  and  snow  will  soon  cover  the  trees 
and  woodlands  and  meadows.  But  when  you  see  buds 
tin  the  branches,  although  they  may  be  few  and  the 
weather  may  be  cold,  still,  know  that  spring  is  at  the 
door,  and  will  enter  soon,  filling  our  homes  with  flowers, 
with  joyous  life,  and  with  love. 

The  leaves  of  dogmatic  opinion  are  falling  thickly 
to  the  ground.  How  dreary  looks  the  landscape,  how 
bleak  the  sky  !  How  cold  and  frosty,  how  forlorn  are 
the  folds  of  the  churches  !  There  is  the  end  of  religious 
life,  you  think;  the  future  will  be  empty  irreligiosity — 
without  faith  in  the  higher  purposes  of  life,  without 
ideals  to  warm  and  fill  our  hearts,  without  hope  for 
anything  except  the  material  enjoyments  of  the  present 
life. 

And  yet,  my  friends,  observe  the  signs  of  the  time  ! 
There  are  buds  on  the  dry  branches  of  religious  life 
which  show  that  the  sap  is  stirring  in  the  roots  of  the 
tree  of  humanity.  There  are  signs  that  the  death- 
knell  of  the  old  creeds  forebodes  the  rise  of  a  new  re- 
ligion. 

Everyone  who  knows  that  nature  is  immortal  can 
see  and  feel  it.  A  new  religion  is  growing  in  the 
hearts  of  men.  The  new  religion  will  either  develop 
from  the  old  creeds  which  now  stand  leafless  and 
without  fruit,  which  seem  useless,  as  if  dead,  or  it 
will  rise  from  the  very  opposition  against  the  old 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  3 

creeds,  from  that  opposition  which  is  made  not  in  the 
name  of  frivolous  cynicism,  but  in  the  name  of  honesty 
and  truth.  The  beautiful  will  not  be  destroyed  to- 
gether with  the  fantastic,  nor  the  higher  aspirations 
in  life  with  supernatural  errors.  Though  all  the  creeds 
may  crumble  away,  the  living  faith  in  ideals  will  last 
forever.  That  which  is  good  and  true  and  pure,  will 
remain — for  that  is  eternal. 

The  new  religion  which  I  see  arising  and  which 
I  know  will  spring  forth  as  spontaneously  and  power- 
fully as  the  verdure  of  spring,  will  be^the  religion  of 
humanity.  It  will  be  the  embodiment  of  all  that  is 
sacred  and  pure  and  elevating.  It  will  be  realistic,  for 
it  loves  truth.  It  will  promote  righteousness,  for  it 
demands  justice.  It  will  ennoble  human  life,  for  it 
represents  harmony  and  beauty. 

The  new  religion  that  will  replace  the  old  creeds 
will  be  an  ethical  religion.  And  truly  all  the  vital 
questions  of  the  day  are  at  bottom  religious,  all  are 
ethical.  They  cannot  be  solved  unless  we  dig  down 
to  their  roots,  which  are  buried  in  the  deepest  depths 
of  our  hearts — in  the  realm  of  religious  aspirations. 

Life  would  not  be  worth  living  if  it  were  limited 
merely  to  the  satisfaction  of  our  physical  wants;  if  it 
were  bare  of  all  higher  aspirations,  if  we  could  not 
fill  our  soul  with  a  divine  enthusiasm  for  objects  that 
are  greater  than  our  individual  existence.  We  must 
be  able  to  look  beyond  the  narrowness  of  our  personal 
affairs.  Our  hopes  and  interests  must  be  broader  than 
life's  short  span  ;  they  must  not  be  kept  within  the 
bounds  of  egotism,  or  we  shall  never  feel  the  thrill 
of  a  higher  life.  For  what  is  religion  but  the  growth 
into  the  realm  of  a  higher  life  ?  And  what  would  the 
physical  life  be  without  religion? 


TO  FULFIL  NOT  TO  DESTROY. 


THE  greatest  religious  revolution  which  the  world 
has  ever  seen  was  that  of  Christianity.  From  the 
standpoint  of  .an  impartial  umpire,  it  must  be  con- 
fessed that  the  triumph  of  the  Christian  Faith  has 
been  the  grandest  in  history.  The  founder  of  Chris- 
tianity, who  died  on  the  cross  as  an  outlawed  criminal, 
led  the  van  of  a  new  civilization.  In  his  name  kings 
and  emperors  reverently  bowed  and  yielded  to  the  de- 
mands of  humaner  ideals  ;  while  the  greatest  philoso- 
phers, the  princes  of  thought,  brooded  over  his  ethical 
doctrines. 

How  can  we  explain  the  unparalleled  success  of 
Christianity  ?  It  is  due,  undoubtedly,  to  the  sublimity 
of  Christ's  ethics,  to  the  gentleness  and  nobility  of  his 
person,  to  the  kindness  of  his  heart,  to  the  wealth  of 
his  spiritual  treasures,  and  to  the  poverty  of  his  ap- 
pearance. But  that  is  not  all.  Every  business  man 
knows  that  for  success,  not  only  ability  is  required,  not 
only  the  solidity  of  one's  goods,  but  the  merchandise 
offered  must  also  be  in  demand. 

No  movement  in  history  can  be  successful  unless 
it  is  based  upon  a  solid  ethical  basis,  having  in  view 
the  elevation  and  amelioration,  not  of  a  single  class  or 
nation,  but  of  the  human  kind.  Yet  this  is  not  all. 
A  revolution  must  be  needed;  it  must  stand  in  de 
maud.  No  revolution  will  endure  unless  the  ethical 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  5 

idea  by  which  it  is  animated  lies  deeply  rooted  in  the 
past. 

A  successful  revolution  must  be  the  result  of  evolu- 
tion ;  and  a  successful  revolutionist  must  combine  two 
rare  qualities,  an  unflinching  radicalism  and  a  strong 
conservativism.  The  ideal  of  a  successful  movement 
must  open  new  and  grand  vistas  for  progress,  but  at 
the  same  time  it  must  be  the  fulfillment  of  a  hope, 
the  realization  of  a  prophecy.  Thus  it  will  shed  its 
light  on  the  ages  past,  which  will  now  be  understood 
as  preliminary  and  preparatory  endeavors  to  effect  and 
to  realize  this  ideal. 

We  stand  on  the  eve  of  another  great  religious 
revolution.  Humanity  has  outgrown  the  old  dogma- 
tism of  the  churches,  and  a  new  faith  is  bursting  forth 
in  the  hearts  of  men,  which  promises  to  be  broader 
and  humaner  than  the  narrow  bigotry  of  old  creeds. 
It  promises  to  accord  with  science,  for  it  is  the  very 
outcome  of  science  !  It  will  teach  men  a  new  ethics 
— an  ethics  not  founded  on  the  authority  of  a  power 
foreign  to  humanity,  but  upon  nature,  upon  the  basis 
from  which  humanity  grew  ;  it  will  rest  upon  a  more 
correct  understanding  of  man  and  man's  natural  ten- 
dency to  progress  and  to  raise  himself  to  a  higher 
plane  of  work,  and  to  a  nobler  activity. 

Science  has  undermined  our  religious  belief,  and 
beneath  its  critical  investigations  dogmas  crumble 
away.  But  whatever  science  may  undermine  of  ec- 
clesiastical creeds,  it  does  not,  and  will  not,  prove 
subversive  of  the  moral  commandments  of  religion. 
Science  will,  after  all,  only  purify  the  religious  ideals 
of  mankind,  and  will  show  them  in  their  moral  im- 
portance. The  most  radical  criticism  of  science  will 


6  HOMILIES  (>/•'  SC//-..VCE. 

always  remain  in  concord  with  the  reverent  regard  for 
the  moral  ideal. 

We  believe  in  progress,  and  trust  that  man  lives 
not  in  vain,  that  man's  labor,  if  rightly  done,  will  fur- 
ther the  cause  of  humanity  and  make  the  world  better 
— be  it  ever  so  little  better — than  it  was.  We  aspire 
to  a  nobler  future — and  let  me  point  out  one  import- 
ant subject  which  is  too  often  overlooked,  and  which 
is  indispensable  to  success.  The  success  of  ideals  is 
impossible  without  a  due  respect  for  the  ideas  which 
are  to  be  displaced.  The  triumph  of  a  better  future 
depends  upon  a  due  reverence  for  the  merits  of  the 
past,  or,  in  other  words,  we  must  know  that  the  new 
view  is  the  outcome  of  the  old  view.  The  ethical  re- 
ligion of  the  future  springs  from  the  seed  of  past 
ecclesiastical  religions.  And  if  the  latter  appear  to 
us  as  superstitious  notions  of  a  crude  and  strangely 
materialistic  imagination,  they  nevertheless  contain 
the  g<?rms  of  purer  and  more  spiritual  conceptions. 
And  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  founder  of  Christianity 
is  more  in  accord  with  the  new  rising  movement  than 
with  the  doctrines  of  his  followers,  who  worship  his 
name,  but  neglect  the  truth  and  spirit  of  his  teachings. 

When  Christ  preached  the  sermon  on  the  mount, 
which  contains,  so  to  say,  the  programme  of  his  doc- 
trines, he  expressly  stated  :  "  Think  not  that  I  am 
come  to  destroy  the  law  or  the  prophets  ;  I  am  not 
come  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfil."  This  sentence  con- 
tains the  clue  to  his  grand  success.  Christ  was  a  con- 
servative revolutionist.  The  new  movement  which  he 
introduced  in  the  history  of  mankind,  was  the  result 
of  the  past ;  the  New  Testament  was  the  fulfillment 
of  the  Old.  And  so  every  successful  movement  has 
been,  not  a  mere  destruction  of  old  errors,  not  the  in- 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  7 

troduction  of  some  absolutely  new  idea,  but  the  ful- 
fillment of  the  past,  and  the  realization  of  long  cher- 
ished aspirations  and  hopes. 

Let  us  learn  a  lesson  from  Christ,  and  like  him,  let 
us  "  not  come  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfil." 


THE  VOCATION. 


WHEN  I'was  a  youth  a  voice  came  unto  me  and 
said:  "Preach!"  And  I  answered:  "What  shall  I 
preach?  Lo,  I  am  young  and  have  not  sufficient 
knowledge."  "Go  into  the  world,"  I  was  told,  "and 
preach  the  truth." 

That  voice  came  from  my  parents  and  grandpar- 
ents, from  my  teachers  and  instructors  ;  and  it  found 
a  ready  response  in  my  soul.  To  be  a  preacher  of 
Truth,  what  a  great  calling  !  Is  there  any  profession 
more  glorious,  is  there  any  work  more  celestial  and 
divine?  I  will  go  and  preach  the  truth,  I  avowed; 
and  in  the  secretness  of  my  heart  I  swore  allegiance 
to  the  Banner  of  Truth.  I  vowed  to  seek  for  Truth, 
to  find  it,  to  confess  it,  to  go  into  the  wide  world  and 
to  preach  it,  yea,  to  give  not  only  all  my  labor  and 
efforts,  but,  if  it  were  necessary,  even  my  life,  my 
blood,  myself,  and  all  that  I  was,  for  truth. 

That  was  a  holy  hour  in  which  I  devoted  myself  to 
the  cause  of  truth,  and  yet  it  was  a  rash  decision,  a 
preposterous  act.  It  was  an  act  that  I  had  to  regret 
in  many  dreary  hours  when  I  desperately  pondered 
upon  the  problems  of  truth,  when  I  had  hopelessly 
lost  myself  in  the  labyrinths  of  life,  and  when  I  de- 
spaired of  Truth's  very  existence. 

When  I  was  young,  Truth  seemed  so  simple  to  me. 
What  is  Truth?  I  asked,  and  the  teaching  of  my  child- 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  9 

hood  always  echoed  forth  the  ready  answer :  Truth  is 
the  gospel,  and  doubt  in  Truth  is  the  root  of  all  evil. 

I  knew  the  gospel  by  heart,  and  I  studied  eagerly, 
that  I  might  be  a  worthy  minister  of  the  word  of  God. 
But  the  more  I  studied  the  more  that  sinful  tendency 
to  doubt  grew,  first  secretly,  then  openly,  first  sup- 
pressed, then  frankly  acknowledged,  until  doubt  ceased 
to  be  doubt ;  it  became  an  established  conviction.  A  cry 
of  despair  wrung  itself  from  my  heart :  "The  gospel 
is  not  truth  ;  it  is  error !  It  is  a  falsity  to  preach  it,  and 
he  who  preaches  it,  preaches  a  lie  !" 

A  pang  of  discord  vibrated  through  my  bosom  and 
tore  my  whole  being  into  two  irreconcilable  parts. 
Could  I  step  to  the  altar  in  this  condition  and  swear 
to  preach  the  gospel  ?  Never !  I  had  believed  that 
the  gospel  was  but  another  name  for  truth  and  I  now 
saw  that  whatever  truth  might  be,  the  gospel  certainly 
could  not  be  truth. 

Is  there  truth  at  all  ?  No  !  I  thought ;  there  is  no 
truth  !  There  are  opinions  only,  and  one  opinion  is  as 
good  as  another.  Man  likes  to  look  upon  the  world 
as  a  cosmos — but  there  is  no  cosmic  order,  there  is  no 
higher  law,  there  is  no  justice  and  no  truth  in  the 
world,  there  is  disorder  everywhere,  the  universe  is  a 
chaos  of  forces,  natural  laws  are  indifferent  to  good 
or  evil,  and  the  lie  rules  supreme  in  society,  sham 
gains  the  victory  over  truth,  cunning  and  selfishness 
triumph  over  virtue  and  love. 

Oh  !  these  were  dreary  hours  when  I  had  lost  the 
ideals  of  my  childhood.  I  had  cast  my  anchor  into 
the  ground  of  religious  belief  and  had  suffered  a  ship- 
wreck, in  which  I  expected  to  perish. 

There  was  a  time  when  I  did  not  know  which  I  hated 
more,  Science  that  had  taken  away  the  comfort  of 


to  IK j.i///. /A.V  or  si •//•. .  w •/•:. 

my  religious  faith,  or  Religion  that  had  promised  all 
to  me  and  had  proved  false.  Religion  could  not  justify 
itself  as  Truth  before  the  court  of  scientific  research. 

I  abandoned  religion  and  followed  science. 

Years  passed  away  amid  earnest  labors,  and  science 
reluctantly  opened  to  me  her  treasures.  She  made  me 
see  the  wonders  of  life.  Life  appeared  different  to 
me.  The  universe  of  science  is  another  world  than 
that  which  I  imagined  to  see  around  me  in  the  chaotic 
turmoil  of  the  struggle  for  existence.  I  perceived  in- 
visible threads  that  connected  distant  events.  I  rec- 
ognized that  while  the  laws  of  nature  might  work 
blindly,  yet  they  produced  order.  The  more  my  views 
expanded,  the  clearer  I  saw  that  the  chaotic  attaches 
to  the  single,  to  the  isolated  only,  not  to  the  whole, 
not  to  the  greater  system,  and  the  All  itself  is  identical 
with  order.  The  All  is  a  cosmos  truly. 

Opinions  clash  with  opinions  in  the  empire  of  sci- 
ence ;  and  the  knowledge  that  we  possess  is  almost 
always  an  approximate  statement  only  of  the  truth. 
Nevertheless,  there  is  truth  and  there  is  error.  One 
opinion  is  by  no  means  equivalent  to  every  other  opin- 
ion; there  are  wrong  opinions  and  correct  opinions, 
there  is  Truth  in  this  world  and  Truth  is  a  power.  She 
reveals  her  sacred  face  only  to  him  who  earnestly  strug- 
gles for  truth.  Truth  may  seem  awful  at  first,  but  fear 
her  not;  trust  her,  have  confidence  in  her,  even  as 
does  a  child  in  its  mother.  Give  up  your  prejudices 
and  your  misconceptions  even  if  they  are  holy  to  you, 
even  if  they  seem  to  constitute  the  very  life-blood  of 
your  spiritual  being. 

In  the  meantime  I  had  given  up  every  intention  to 
preach  the  gospel  and  found  satisfaction  in  the  retired 
hermitage  of  the  study,  where  I  became  an  adept  of 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  il 

truth  in  quite  another  sense  than  I  had  intended  in 
the  preposterous  ambition  of  my  youth.  I  was  not  a 
teacher,  not  a  preacher  of  truth,  but  her  pupil,  not  a 
master  but  a  disciple  who  plodded  modestly  and 
patiently.  How  often,  O  how  often,  was  a  grain  of 
truth  dearly  bought  through  the  toil  of  many,  many 
hours — and  yet  never  too  dearly  ! 

In  former  years  I  had  answered  the  question  What 
is  truth,  with  the  words  :  "Truth  is  the  gospel."  Now 
I  learned  to  reverse  the  statement.  I  had  met  so  much 
misery  and  woe  in  the  world  and  in  looking  around  for 
salvation,  I  said  :  If  there  is  any  gospel,  it  must  be 
truth — and  truth  must  be  found  by  patient  labor,  by 
scientific,  honest  research  and  by  severe  exactness. 
What  a  folly  in  man  to  imagine  that  truth  should  drop 
down  from  heaven  as  a  revelation.  Truth  must  be  con- 
quered by  our  own  efforts.  Truth  would  not  be  truth 
if  it  were  acquired  in  some  other  way. 

Years  passed  away  and,  again  a  voice  come  unto  me 
and  spoke:  "Preach!  Preach  the  truth."  I  answered 
and  said:  "How  can  I  preach?  Am  I  not  a  mere 
disciple  who  has  no  hope  ever  to  become  a  master  ?  I 
am  no  preacher  and  no  one  has  appointed  me  to  speak 
in  the  name  of  truth.  When  I  was  a  youth  I  felt  the 
strength  to  preach,  and  lo,  I  had  it  not.  I  had  almost 
stepped  to  the  altar  and  had  almost  made  a  vow  which 
I  now  know  I  should  have  had  to  break.  Let  me 
study  truth,  let  me  devote  my  labor  to  science,  but 
send  another  man  worthier  than  I.  Besides,  I  am  not 
eloquent :  but  I  am  slow  of  speech  and  of  a  slow 
tongue.  I  know  not  how  to  speak  as  a  preacher  to 
the  congregation. 

But  that  voice  came  again:  "  Preach  the  truth." 
He  who  is  called  to  proclaim  the  religion  of  mankind 


will  not  be  bound  by  any  oath  to  adhere  to  this  or  to 
that  confession  of  faith.  He  is  pledged  to  be  faithful 
to  truth  only.  If  you  have  the  conviction  that  truth — 
mere  truth  and  nothing  but  the  truth — will  be  the 
gospel  of  mankind,  that  the  salvation  from  error  can 
come  from  it  alone,  that  science,  whose  fruit  seemed 
so  bitter  at  first,  contains  the  germs  of  a  higher  re- 
ligion, step  forward  upon  this  platform  and  preach 
that  new  faith  which  is  greater  than  the  old  faith,  be- 
cause it  is  truer. 

I  feel  as  if  a  preacher  that  has  not  joined  any  of 
the  many  churches,  must  be  a  voice  crying  in  the 
wilderness.  But  that  should  be  no  reason  to  decline 
the  calling.  Therefore  I  shall  accept  the  call  upon 
that  platform.  One  thing  alone  shall  be  sacred  to  the 
preacher  of  the  religion  of  humanity,  and  that  is  truth. 
There  shall  be  no  oath  of  allegiance  to  any  dogma,  no 
pledge  to  any  creed.  I  accept  the  calling,  yet  I  do 
it  with  hesitation,  because  I  am  aware  of  its  difficul- 
ties. And  at  the  same  time  I  accept  it  in  gladness,  be- 
cause I  know  that  the  new  religion  which  grows  out 
of  science — out  of  the  rock  upon  which  the  old  creeds 
were  shipwrecked —  will  not  come  to  destroy.  The 
new  religion  will  come  to  fulfill  the  old  faith. 


RELIGION  BASED  UPON  FACTS, 


A  WELL  known  clergyman,  famous  for  his  indefatig- 
able energy,  and  the  comprehensiveness  of  his  practi- 
cal activity,  who  believed  in  a  supernatural  world  of 
purely  spiritual  existence,  and  a  scientist  with  material- 
istic tendencies  who  looked  upon  all  religious  aspira- 
tions as  mere  illusions,  once  had  a  discussion  about 
facts.  The  scientist  declared  that  science  alone  dealt 
with  facts,  the  clergy  did  not  see  the  real  world,  but 
dealt  with  things  that  were  unreal.  The  clergyman 
answered  rather  sharply  in  about  this  way  :  "  You 
scientists  imagine  that  you  have  a  monopoly  of  facts. 
You  should  know  that  I  have  to  deal  with  facts  just  as 
much  as  you  do.  I  have  stood  at  the  bed  side  of  the 
sick  and  dying,  and  my  experiences  concerning  that 
which  comforts  them  in  the  hour  of  death  and  tribula- 
tion are  based  upon  observations  of  facts.  Practical 
theology  is  in  no  less  a  degree  based  upon  facts  than 
the  science  of  physical  or  chemical  phenomena." 

The  clergyman  was  right  in  so  far  as  the  duties  of 
his  calling  arose  from  the  facts  of  life.  A  pastor  should 
be  the  adviser,  the  fatherly  friend,  and  comforter  of 
his  congregation  in  all  the  situations  of  life.  Individ- 
uals are  not  isolated  beings.  Many  of  their  actions, 
and  indeed  their  whole  demeanor,  are  of  great  concern 
to  the  community,  and  the  community  protects  itself 
against  vicious  individuals  by  law.  The  duty  of  the 


1 4  HOMILIES  (>/••  SCIENCE. 

clergy  is  to  impress  upon  their  congregations  the  moral 
spirit  of  goodwill  towards  all  mankind,  to  teach  them 
to  regulate  their  conduct  so  that  in  the  hour  of  death 
no  remorse  will  flit  over  their  minds, — to  teach  them 
that  when  they  lie  down  to  eternal  rest,  their  deeds, 
their  love,  their  sympathy,  and  their  thoughts  will  live 
on  and  bear  witness  to  their  having  fought  a  noble 
battle  in  life.  The  more  thoroughly  the  clergyman 
does  his  duty  in  a  spirit  of  religious  truth  and  moral 
aspiration,  the  less  will  we  want  the  work  of  the  state's- 
attorney  and  the  judge. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  our  churches  will  imbibe 
more  and  more  the  positive  spirit  of  the  age,  and  so 
found  their  duties  upon  the  facts  of  life.  Whether  they 
believe  in  a  supernatural  world  of  purely  spiritual 
existence  is,  or  should  be,  of  secondary  importance. 
Our  churches,  however,  have  so  much  mixed  up  the 
real  and  objective  facts  of  life  with  their  antiquated 
interpretations  of  these  facts,  that  they  believe  the 
fictitious  world  of  supernaturalism  as  described  in  their 
dogmas,  to  be  a  reality. 

It  is  a  fact  that  people  need  solace  in  the  hour  of 
death,  it  is  a  fact  that  matrimony  is  a  holy  ordinance, 
in  which  not  only  the  couple  that  is  united  for  life 
until  death  do  them  part,  but  the  whole  community  is 
greatly  concerned.  It  is  a  fact  that  the  birth  of  a  child 
imposes  duties  upon  the  parents;  the  child  is  not  their 
property  ;  it  is  entrusted  to  their  care,  and  they  have  to 
rear  it  for  the  best  of  humanity.  Godfathers  or  god- 
mothers promise  to  take  the  place  of  parents,  if  death 
should  call  the  latter  away  too  early  to  fulfill  their 
duties  upon  the  child.  From  the  naming  of  a  child 
upon  its  entrance  into  the  world,  unto  the  burial  of  the 
dead,  when  we  pay  the  last  honors  to  our  beloved 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  15 

ones,  man's  life  is  permeated  with  duties  that  point 
higher  than  the  fulfillment  of  egotistic  desires.  Ego- 
tism finds  its  end  in  death  ;  man's  duties  teach  him 
to  think  beyond  his  own  death.  And  it  is  the  per- 
formance of  these  duties  that  is  the  substance  of  all 
religious  commands.  9 

Some  imagine  that  science  is  limited  to  the  lower 
sorts  of  natural  facts  only.  Religious  and  moral  facts 
have  been  too  little  heeded  by  our  scientists.  Thus 
people  came  to  think  that  science  and  religion  move  in 
two  different  spheres.  That  is  not  so.  The  facts  of 
our  soul-life  must  be  investigated  and  stated  with 
scientific  accuracy,  and  our  clergy  should  be  taught  to 
purify  religion  with  the  criticism  of  scientific  methods. 
They  need  not  fear  for  their  religious  ideals.  So  far 
as  they  are  true;  and  their  moral  kernel  is  true,  they 
will  not  suffer  in  the  crucible  of  science.  Religion  will 
not  lose  one  iota  of  its  grandeur,  if  it  is  based  upon  a 
scientific  foundation  ;  all  that  it  will  lose  is  the  errors 
that  are  connected  with  religion  ;  and  the  sooner  they 
are  lost  the  better  for  us. 

One  of  my  orthodox  friends  maintains  that  Chris- 
tianity, that  is  to  say  orthodox  Christianity,  is  based 
upon  facts,  and  these  facts,  he  says,  are  historical  facts : 
they  are  the  life  and  teachings,  the  suffering  and  the 
death,  and  above  all  the  resurrection,  of  Jesus  Christ. 

If  Christianity  is  based  solely  upon  historical  facts, 
it  stands  and  falls  with  their  truth.  If  Christian  morals 
depend  upon  the  occurrence  of  a  few  events  that  are 
supposed  to  have  happened  once  and  will  never  happen 
again,  their  fate  is  very  problematic  indeed. 

The  question  is  well  worth  a  closer  consideration. 

Natural  processes  around  us  show  a  certain  regu- 
larity combined  with  a  certain  irregularity.  Every 


16  //CW//./A.Y  01'   SCIENCE. 

phenomenon  that  takes  place  has  its  individual  fea- 
tures, and  no  one  thing  is  exactly  like  another.  A  vis- 
itor from  the  city  may  imagine  that  every  sheep  in  a 
herd  of  one  breeding  looks  like  the  other ;  yet  the 
shepherd  knows  them  all  individually,  and  can  distin- 
guish them  apart,  grains  of  corn  may  appear  to  us 
all  alike,  yet  they  are  not ;  everyone  has  its  own  idio- 
syncrasy. But  in  spite  of  all  difference,  there  is  a  uni- 
versality of  law  in  all  things  and  in  all  natural  phe- 
nomena. A  closer  acquaintance  with  the  nature  of  the 
differences  teaches  that  they  result,  and  can  only  re- 
sult, from  a  difference  of  condition.  Yet  it  is  the  same 
law  that  governs  all.  Thus  we  arrive  at  the  conclu- 
sion, that  isolated  facts  cannot  exist  which  stand  in 
contradiction  to  the  laws  of  all  other  facts.  And  it  is 
a  rule  that  science  derives  its  laws — the  so-called  nat- 
ural laws — from  such  facts  alone  as  repeat  themselves 
again  and  again,  from  such  as  can  be  verified  by  ex 
periment,  from  such  as  are  accessible  to  the  observa- 
tion of  every  one  who  takes  the  trouble  to  investigate. 
It  need  scarcely  be  added  that  the  same  rule  holds 
good  for  positive  philosophy.  Single  and  isolated  ob- 
servations cannot  give  a  solid  basis  for  a  conception 
of  the  world.  The  facts  upon  which  a  view  of  the  uni- 
verse rests  must  be  ascertainable  by  every  one  who 
cares  to  be  positive  about  their  being  as  they  are  rep- 
resented to  be  and  not  otherwise. 

The  rule  is  unequivocally  acknowledged  in  science. 
It  is  accepted — by  some  with  a  certain  reserve — in 
philosophy.  Yet  it  is  recognized  in  religion  only  by 
few.  Although  if  it  be  true  in  science  it  must  be  true 
in  religion  also. 

What  is  religion  but  a  conception  of  the  world,  in 
accordance  with  which  we  regulate  our  conduct?  If 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  17 

religion  is  based  upon  verifiable  facts,  it  stands  upon 
a  rock.  If  it  is  based  upon  an  assertion  of  facts  that 
happened  once  and  will  never  happen  again,  it  is  built 
upon  sand;  and  when  'the  rain  descends,  and  the 
floods  come,  and  the  wind  blows,  and  beat  upon  it,' 
the  structure  will  fall. 

Christ's  doctrine  in  so  far  as  it  is  the  religion  of 
love,  stands  upon  the  moral  facts  of  human  soul-life. 
The  ethical  truth  of  Christianity  rests  on  solid  ground. 
Christian  dogmatism,  however,  stands  or  falls  with  the 
history  of  Christ's  life,  his  death,  and  resurrection. 
Had  not  orthodox  Christianity  been  supported  by  the 
great  truth  of  Christ's  religion  of  love,  it  long  ago 
would  have  disappeared ;  for  Christianity  as  an  histor- 
ical religion  is  indeed  extremely  weak.  What  must  a 
religious  truth  be  that  has  to  depend  upon  the  verifica- 
tion of  a  few  historical  facts  ?  And  these  historical 
facts  are  in  themselves  improbable,  nay,  impossible ; 
they  stand  in  contradiction  to  all  the  facts  verified  by 
science,  and  whether  they  are  true  or  not,  have  not 
the  least  bearing  upon  the  moral  conduct  of  man. 
Whether  Christ  healed  a  few  lepers  or  not,  whether 
he  abstained  from  all  food  for  forty  days  or  not,  whether 
he  has  bodily  risen  from  the  dead  or  not,  the  'ought' 
of  Ethics  remains  the  same.  If  Christianity  means 
the  dogmatism  of  the  Church,  it  is  an  historical  re- 
ligion which  will  disappear  in  the  course  of  time;  if  it 
means  the  doctrine  of  Christ,  the  fulfillment  of  the  law 
through  love,  it  will  be  the  religion  of  mankind. 


THE  RELIGIOUS  PROBLEM. 


THE  political,  religious,  and  intellectual  growth  of 
humanity  constantly  produces  changes  in  the  condi- 
tions of  society,  and  in  times  of  rapid  progress  these 
changes  may  become  so  great  as  to  demand  the  read- 
justment of  our  institutions  of  government,  the  refor- 
mation of  church  and  school,  and  the  reconstruction 
of  our  fundamental  conceptions  of  the  world  and  life. 
When  the  necessity,  therefore,  for  readjustment  and 
reformation  becomes  keenly  felt,  problems  arise. 
Thus  we  speak  of  the  social  problem,  the  educa- 
tional problem,  the  religious  problem,  and  many 
others. 

The  religious  problem  results  from  the  rapid  ad- 
vances made  by  science.  Our  religious  conceptions, 
it  is  now  generally  acknowledged,  can  possess  value 
only  if  they  are  recognized  in  their  moral  importance. 
Their  dogmatic  features  are  coming  more  and  more  to 
be  considered  as  accessory  elements,  which  can,  and 
indeed  often  do,  become  injurious  to  the  properly  re- 
ligious spirit. 

The  moral  rules  which  we  accept  as  our  maxims 
of  conduct  in  life,  must  have  some  basis  to  rest  upon. 
We  demand  to  know  why  and  to  what  end  the  single 
individual  has  to  obey  certain  commands,  to  observe 
which  may  sometimes  cost  great  self-sacrifice.  The 
old  orthodox  systems  of  religion  cannot  answer  this 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  19 

question  at  the  present  day  with  the  authority  which 
the  blind  and  unasking  faith  of  their  adherents  for- 
merly attributed  to  their  utterances;  and  we  are  there- 
fore brought  to  the  task  of  remodeling  our  religious 
conceptions,  in  order  to  make  them  harmonize  with 
the  present  altered  situation. 

The  religious  problem  has  been  solved  differently 
by  men  of  different  stamp.  The  orthodox  theologian, 
of  course,  denies  the  existence  of  a  religious  problem. 
Being  stationary  he  has  not  progressed  with  his  time  ; 
he  knows  nothing  of  evolution,  and  looks  upon  the 
advances  of  science  as  steps  towards  depravation. 
He  would  solve  the  problem  by  checking  all  further 
progress,  and  would  keep  humanity  down  to  the  level 
of  his  own  littleness. 

The  iconoclast,  on  the  other  hand,  solves  the  prob- 
lem by  extirpating  religion  altogether.  Like  Dr. 
Ironbeard,  in  the  German  legend,  he  frees  his  patient 
from  pain  by  a  plentiful  dose  of  opium,  that  lulls  him 
to  eternal  rest.  It  is  a  radical  cure.  Kill  the  patient 
and  he  will  cease  to  complain. 

The  religious  problem  of  to-day  does  not  mean 
that  we  doubt  the  ten  commandments.  We  do  not 
object  to  the  behests:  "Thou  shalt  not  steal," 
"Thou  shalt  not  kill,"  "Thou  shalt  not  bear  false 
witness  against  thy  neighbor."  Nor  do  we  object  to 
the  Christian  ideals  of  Faith,  Hope,  and  Charity  ;  we 
do  not  oppose  the  rule,  "  Love  thy  neighbor  as  thy- 
self." The  religious  problem  means  that  we  have 
ceased  to  believe  the  dogmas  of  the  church.  We 
have  ceased  to  look  upon  God  as  a  person  who  made 
the  world  out  of  nothing,  and  governs  it  at  his  pleas- 
ure. We  have  ceased  to  believe  in  miracles  ;  .we 
have  ce*ased  to  believe  in  the  supernatural  and  in  the 


20  HOMILIES  i>  r  .S r//-.. \TA. 

fairyland  which,  according  to  the  dreams  of  former 
ages,  existed  in  heaven  beyond  the  skies. 

So  many  illusions  fell  to  the  ground  when  the  light 
of  science  was  thrown  upon  them ;  but  the  moral 
command,  "  Love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself,"  did  not. 
Science  has  destroyed  the  mythology  of  religion,  but 
it  has  left  its  moral  faith  intact ;  indeed,  it  has  jus- 
tified it ;  it  proves  its  truth,  and  places  it  upon  a  solid 
basis,  showing  it  in  its  simple  and  yet  majestic 
grandeur. 

Science  teaches  that  harmony  prevails  every  where, 
although  to  our  blunted  senses  it  often  may  be  diffi- 
cult to  discover  it.  Science  teaches  that  truth  is  one 
and  the  same.  One  truth  cannot  contradict  another 
truth,  and  when  it  seems  so  it  is  because  we  have  not 
found, but  will  find,  the  common  law  that  embraces  these 
different  aspects  of  truth  which  to  a  superficial  in- 
spection appear  as  contradictory.  Science  further 
teaches  that  the  individual  is  a  part  of  the  whole. 
The  individual  must  conform  to  the  laws  of  the  All, 
not  only  to  live  at  all,  but  also  to  live  well — to  live  a 
life  that  is  worth  living. 

The  properly  religious  truths  are  not  the  dogmatic 
creeds,  but  the  moral  commands  ;  and  it  is  their  scien- 
tific and  philosophical  justification  which  is  demanded 
by  the  religious  problem  of  the  present  age.  The  so- 
lution of  the  religious  problem  must  give  us  a  clear 
and  popular  conception  of  the  world,  based  upon  the 
broadest  and  most  indubitable  facts  of  science  so  ar- 
ranged that  every  one  can  understand  the  necessity  of 
conforming  to  those  laws  which  have  built  human  so- 
ciety, and  make  it  possible  for  us  to  live  as  human  be- 
ings a  noble  and  worthy  life.  The  solution  of  the 
religious  problem  will  most  likely  do  away  with  many 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE,  21 

sectarian  ceremonies  and  customs,  i^will  enable  us  to 
dispense  with  certain  narrow  views  and  antiquated 
rites,  which  many,  up  to  this  hour,  look  upon  as  the 
essentials  of  religion.  But  it  will  not  do  away  with  the 
moral  law;  for  we  know  that  that  will  never  pass 
away.  It  is  the  moral  law  which  Christ  and  the 
Apostles  again  and  again  declare  contains  the  essence 
of  all  their  injunctions  :  for  the  whole  law  is  fulfilled 
in  one  word,  even  in  this,  "Thou  shalt  love  thy 
neighbor  as  thyself,"  and  "This  is  the  love  of  God 
that  we  keep  his  commandments,  and  his  command- 
ments are  not  grievous." 


NEW  WINE  IN  OLD  BOTTLES. 


CHRIST  said  :  "No  man  seweth  a  piece  of  new  cloth 
on  an  old  garment :  else  the  new  piece  that  filleth  it 
up  taketh  away  from  the  old  and  the  rent  is  made 
worse.  And  no  man  putteth  new  wine  into  old  bot- 
tles, else  the  new  wine  doth  burst  the  bottles,  and  the 
wine  is  spilled  and  the  bottles  will  be  marred ;  but 
new  wine  must  be  put  into  new  bottles." 

What  Christ's  meaning  was  when  he  spoke  these 
words  we  can  hardly  guess,  for  the  context  in  Mat- 
thew (ix,  16,  17)  as  well  as  in  Mark  (ii,  21,  22)  appears 
to  be  corrupted.  Christ,  as  reported  in  these  pas- 
sages, said  these  words  in  answer  to  the  question  : 
"Why  do  we  and  the  Pharisees  fast  oft,  but  thy  dis- 
ciples fast  not?"  This  part  of  Christ's  answer  does 
not  fit  to  the  question.  But,  whatever  Christ  meant, 
it  is  certain  that,  if  these  allegories  mean  the  renewal 
of  old  ideas,  the  rejuvenescence  of  a  dying  faith,  he 
himself  did  pour  new  wine  into  old  bottles.  He  did 
not  reject  the  truths  of  the  Old  Testament,  but  he 
adopted  them,  he  perfected  them,  he  brought  out 
their  moral  purport,  and  showed  the  spirit  of  their 
meaning.  If  the  simile  is  to  be  interpreted  in  this 
sense,  evolution  is  a  perpetual  repetition  of  putting 
new  wine  into  old  bottles. 

What  is  the  progress  of  science  but  a  constant  re- 
modeling of  our  scientific  conceptions  and  terms  and 
formulas  ?  What  is  the  progress  of  national  and  so- 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  23 

cial  life  but  a  constant  alteration  and  improvement  of 
old  institutions  and  laws  ? 

What  enormous  changes  has  our  conception  of 
God  passed  through  !  How  great  they  are  is  scarcely 
apparent  to  us  now,  at  least  our  orthodox  brethren 
are  not  much  aware  of  it.  It  is  known  to  the  historian  ; 
and  we  can  give  an  idea  of  these  changes  by  pointing  to 
the  fact  that  the  idea  of  evil  passed  through  the  same 
phases.  The  crude  anthropomorphism  displayed  in 
the  history  of  the  idea  of  the  devil  is  fresher  in  our 
minds,  and  is  better  preserved  in  legends. 

How  often  have  the  orthodox  on  the  one  hand, 
and  infidels  on  the  other,  declared  that  if  the  word 
God  means  anything,  it  means  and  can  mean  only 
some  one  thing.  How  often  did  the  former  conclude 
from  such  a  premise  that  everyone  who  did  not  hold 
their  opinion  was  an  atheist,  and  the  latter  maintain 
that  this  conception  being  wrong,  there  was  no  God  at 
all.  How  often  was  the  conception  of  God  changed, 
and  how  often  had  the  dogmatic  believer  to  shift  his 
position. 

There  is  a  point  of  strange  agreement  between  the 
old  orthodox  believers  and  their  infidel  antagonists. 
Believers,  as  a  rule,  declare  that  religion  means  noth- 
ing, unless  it  means  the  worship  of  a  supernatural 
divine  personality ;  and  atheists,  accepting  the  latter 
definition  of  religion,  conclude  that  religion,  there- 
fore, should  be  rejected  as  a  superstition. 

This  agreement  between  believers  and  infidels  is 
at  first  startling.  In  my  childhood  I  sided  with  the 
former,  in  my  youth  with  the  latter  ;  but,  when  I  be- 
came a  man,  I  freed  myself  from  the  narrowness  of 
both.  I  now  know  that  some  errors  they  have  in 
common. 


24  HOMILIES  O 

Opponents  have  always  something  in  common, 
else  they  could  not  be  antagonistic  to  one  another. 
Thus  the  orthodox  believer  and  the  infidel  disbeliever 
stand  upon  the  same  ground,  and  this  ground  is  their 
common  error.  The  infidel  speaker  on  the  platform, 
appears  to  me,  in  principle  as  well  as  in  method,  like 
an  inverted  orthodox  clergyman.  He  agrees  with  his 
adversaries  in  the  principle — and  he  always  falls  back 
upon  the  dogmatic  assertion — that  there  is  no  one  who 
can  know :  no  one  who  can  solve  the  religious  prob- 
lem, no  one  who  can  prove  or  disprove  whether  there 
is  a  God  and  an  immortality  of  the  soul  or  not.  But 
the  infidel  inverts  the  argument  of  the  orthodox  be- 
liever. While  the  latter  argues,  "I  must  believe,  be- 
cause I  cannot  know,  I  must  have  faith,  because  it  is 
bej-ond  the  ken  of  human  reason;"  the  infidel  con- 
cludes, "because  I  cannot  know,  I  must  not  believe  , 
and  I  must  reject  any  solution  of  the  problems  of  God 
and  the  soul  because  the  subject  is  beyond  the  ken  of 
human  reason." 

Weighing  the  pros  and  the  cons  of  the  question,  I 
became  convinced  that  both  parties  were  one-sided, 
that,  misguided  by  a  narrow  definition,  both  had  be- 
come so  ossified  as  to  allow  of  no  evolution  to  a  higher 
standpoint.  Therefore,  I  discarded  all  scruples  about 
using  the  words  Religion,  God,  and  Soul  in  a  new 
sense,  which  would  be  in  conformity  with  science.  It 
was,  perhaps,  a  new  path  that  I  was  traveling,  and 
there  are  few  that  find  it,  but  it  is,  nevertheless,  I  am 
fully  convinced,  the  only  true  way  that  leadeth  unto  life. 

The  adherents  of  the  new  religious  conception  are 
in  the  minority ;  and  there  are  the  theists  on  the  one 
side,  and  the  agnostics  on  the  other,  both  uniting  their 
objection  to  a  widening  of  ideas  that  have  become  too 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  25 

narrow  for  us  now,  both  declaring  that  old  definitions 
should  not  be  used  in  a  new  sense. 

Strange !  is  it  not  ?  It  seems  so,  but  it  is  not. 
The  agreement  between  believers  and  unbelievers  is 
easily  explainable  from  the  law  of  inertia.  The  law 
of  inertia  holds  good  in  the  empire  of  thought  just  as 
much  as  in  the  empire  of  matter. 

When  Lavoisier  discovered  that  fire  was  a  process 
of  oxidation,  he  met  with  much  opposition  among 
his  co-workers.  It  was  plainly  told  him  that  fire,  if  it 
meant  anything,  meant  a  certain  substance,  scientifi- 
cally called  "phlogiston,"  the  qualities  of  which  could 
be  perceived  by  our  senses.  And  this  phlogiston,  it 
was  maintained,  possessed,  among  other  properties, 
the  strange  property  of  a  negative  weight,  and  the 
argument  seemed  so  evident,  since  all  flames  tend 
upwards.  If  fire  meant  a  mere  mode  of  motion, 
would  not  that  be  equivalent  of  denying  the  real 
existence  of  fire  altogether? 

We  now  all  know  that  the  definition  and  the  mean- 
ing of  the  words  fire  and  heat  have  changed.  Neither 
have  the  words  been  discarded,  nor  have  we  ceased  to 
believe  in  the  real  existence  of  fire,  since  we  have 
given  up  our  wrong  notion  of  the  materiality  of  fire. 
On  the  contrary,  we  now  know  better  what  fire  is,  and 
in  what  consists  the  reality  of  a  flame. 

Concerning  religion  let  us  follow  the  example  of 
Christ,  and  break  the  fetters  that  antiquated  definitions 
impose  upon  us.  Not  the  letter  giveth  life,  but  the 
spirit ;  and  let  us  preserve  the  spirit  of  religious  truth, 
if  need  be,  at  the  sacrifice  of  the  letter,  in  which  the 
spirit  is  threatened  to  be  choked. 

Christ's  words  about  the  new  cloth,  and  the  new 
wine,  it  seems  to  me,  meant  that  certain  religious 


26  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

institutions,  that  ceremonies  and  forms  ~vill  wear 
out  like  old  garments,  and  like  old  bottles.  Anti- 
quated institutions,  which  have  lost  their  sense,  should 
not  be  preserved.  For  instance,  the  sacrifices  of 
lambs  and  goats,  which  were  offered  by  the  Jews,  as 
well  as  by  the  Greeks  and  the  Romans,  were  aban- 
doned in  Christianity  :  they  had  lost  their  meaning, 
and  Christ's  religion  would  have  been  an  old  garment 
with  a  new  piece  of  cloth  on  it,  if  the  old  cult  had 
been  preserved.  Indeed,  even  the  Jews  are  so  much 
imbued  with  the  new  spirit  that  they  have  given  up 
their  sacrifices  forever. 

It  will  be  the  same  with  the  new  religion  that  is 
now  dawning  upon  mankind.  Some  of  the  old  cere- 
monies have  lost  their  meaning,  they  will  have  to  be 
dropped.  But  the  whole  purport  of  religion,  the 
ideal  of  religion  and  its  mission  will  not  be  gone. 
Man  will  always  want  a  guide  in  life,  a  moral  teacher 
and  instructor.  Man  must  not  allow  himself  to  drift 
about  on  the  ocean  of  life,  he  must  have  something  to 
regulate  his  conduct.  Who  shall  do  that?  Shall  man 
follow  his  natural  impulse  to  get  as  much  pleasure  out 
of  his  life  as  he  can  ?  Shall  he  follow  science  ?  Or 
shall  he  follow  religion  ? 

Man  might  follow  science,  if  every  man  could  be- 
come a  scientist ;  and  in  some  sense,  this  is  possible. 
We  can  not,  all  of  us,  become  specialists  in  the  different 
sciences,  but  we  can,  all  of  us,  to  some  extent  become 
specialists  in  ethics.  What  is  religion  but  a  popularized 
system  of  ethics  ?  And  this  religion  of  ethics  will  be 
the  religion  of  the  future.  All  of  us  who  aspire  after 
progress,  work  for  the  realization  of  this  religion. 

Let  the  religion  of  the  future  be  a  religion  of  science, 
let  religion  not  be  in  conflict  with  science,  but  let  the 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  27 

science  of  moral  conduct  be  so  popularized  that  the 
simplest  mind  can  obey  its  behests,  not  only  because 
he  knows  that  disobedience  will  ruin  him,  but  also  be- 
cause he  has  learned  to  appreciate  the  moral  com- 
mands, so  as  to  love  them,  and  follow  them  because 
he  loves  them. 


THE  REVISION  OF  A  CREED. 


WE  have  at  present  the  strange  spectacle  that  in 
one  of  our  churches  the  proposition  is  discussed  to 
change  some  grave  particulars  of  creed.  The  old 
doctrines  have  become  "unpreachable,"  as  it  is  ex- 
pressed, either  because  the  ministers  no  longer  be- 
lieve them,  or  because  people  are  loath  to  listen  to 
ideas  which  now  appear  as  monstrosities  and  absur- 
dities. 

We  naturally  hail  the  progress  of  a  church  and  its 
development  into  broader  views  of  religious  truth. 
Yet  at  the  same  time  we  feel  the  littleness  of  the  ad- 
vance. What  is  the  progress  of  a  few  steps,  if  a  man 
has  to  travel  hundreds  of  miles  !  Moreover,  what  is 
any  progress,  if  it  is  done  under  the  pressure  of  cir- 
cumstances only  and  not  from  a  desire  to  advance  and 
keep  abreast  with  the  true  spirit  of  the  times  !  The 
change  of  a  creed  should  not  be  forced  upon  a 
church  from  without  by  the  progress  of  unchurched 
thinkers,  but  it  should  result  from  the  growth  and  ex- 
panse of  its  own  life.  The  church,  as  the  moral  in- 
structor of  mankind,  should  not  be  dragged  along  be- 
hind the  triumphant  march  of  humanity,  but  should 
deploy  in  front  with  the  vanguard  of  science  ! 

The  eternal  damnation  of  noble-minded  heathen 
and  of  the  tender-souled  infants  who  happen  to  die 
unbaptized,  was  sternly  believed  in  by  the  ancestors 


HOMILIES  O/''  SCIENCE.  29 

of  our  Presbyterian  friends.  They  declared,  without 
giving  any  reasonable  argument  for  their  opinion,  that 
this  is  part  of  the  divine  order  of  things,  and  whoso- 
ever does  not  believe  it,  will  be  damned  for  all  eternity, 
together  with  the  wise  Socrates  and  the  virtuous  Con- 
fucius. 

Who  made  Calvin  the  councillor  of  divine  provi- 
dence and  who  gave  him  the  right  of  electing  or  reject- 
ing the  souls  of  men  ?  On  what  ground  could  his 
narrow  view,  excusable  in  his  time,  be  incorporated 
into  the  creed  of  a  church  ?  The  argument  on  which 
Calvin's  view  rests,  was  very  weak,  but  the  founders 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  being  convinced  of  its 
truth,  thought  to  strengthen  it  by  incorporating  the 
doctrine  into  their  Confession.  An  idea,  once  sanctified 
by  tradition,  has  a  tenacious  life.  Reverence  for  the 
founders  of  a  church  will  keep  their  errors  sacred 
and  will  not  allow  an  impartial  investigation  of  their 
opinions. 

Reverence  is  a  good  thing  ;  but  all  reverence  toward 
men,  be  they  ever  so  venerable,  must  be  controlled  by 
the  reverence  for  truth.  And  this  is  the  worst  part  of 
the  change  of  the  Confession.  The  change,  it  appears, 
is  not  made  because  -the  objectionable  doctrines  are 
recognized  as  errors  ;  but  simply  because  they  are  at 
the  present  time  too  repulsive  for  popular  acceptance. 

Why  are  the  doctrines  of  eternal  punishment  not 
openly  and  confessedly  branded  as  errors?  Why  can 
it  not  be  acknowledged  that  tenets  which  our  fathers 
considered  as  truths  of  divine  revelation,  were  after  all 
their  personal  and  private  opinions  only? 

We  ask  why,  but  receive  no  explanation.  Yet 
there  is  a  reason  that  lurks  behind  ;  although  it  seems 
as  if  the  men  who  are  most  concerned  were  not  con- 


30  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

scious  of  it.  If  the  error  were  acknowledged,  a  prin- 
ciple would  be  pronounced  which  opens  the  door  to  a 
greater  and  more  comprehensive  reform.  And  such 
a  reform  is  not  wanted.  The  clergy  seem  to  be 
afraid  of  it.  If  the  error  is  conceded,  it  means  the 
denial  of  the  infallibility  of  the  Confession.  The  dog- 
mas of  the  church  cease  to  be  absolute  verities  ;  and 
truth  is  recognized  above  the  creed  of  the  church,  as 
the  highest  court  of  appeal — truth,  ascertainablc  by 
philosophical  enquiry  and  scientific  research. 

This  would  be  equivalent  to  the  abolition  of  all 
dogmas  and  wonld  mean  the  enthronement  of  a  princi- 
ple to  fill  their  place.  This  principle,  if  we  look  at  it 
closely,  is  nothing  new ;  it  is  an  old  acquaintance  of 
ours ;  it  is  the  same  principle  on  which  science  stands. 
And  the  recognition  of  this  principle  would  be  the 
conciliation  between  science  and  religion  once  for  all. 

Brethren,  do  not  shut  your  eyes  in  broad  daylight, 
but  look  freely  about  and  follow  the  example  of  the 
great  founder  of  Christianity.  Worship  God  not  in 
vain  repetitions,  not  in  pagan  adoration,  as  if  God  were 
a  man  like  ourselves.  Worship  God  in  spirit  and  in 
truth.  Acknowledge  the  superiority  of  truth  above 
your  creed,  and  be  not  ashamed  of  widening  the  pale 
of  your  churches. 

If  you  acknowledge  the  supremacy  of  truth  and 
make  your  changes  in  the  Confession  because  truth 
compels  you  to  make  them,  your  progress  will  be  that 
of  a  man  who  walketh  upright  and  straight.  But  if 
you  do  not  acknowledge  the  superiority  of  truth  above 
your  creed,  if  you  identify  truth  with  your  creed,  your 
progress  will  be  the  advance  of  a  soldier  loitering  in 
the  rear  of  his  army,  who  is  afraid  of  being  left  be- 
hind. You  will  unwillingly  have  to  yield  to  the  ne- 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  31 

cessity  of  a  change  ;  and  you  will  have  to  do  it  again 
and  again,  and  always  without  dignity. 

Is  it  dignified  to  alter  a  religious  creed  because  it 
appears  as  a  relic  of  barbarism,  because  it  has  become 
odious  to  the  people,  and  because  it  no  longer  suits 
their  tastes  ?  Your  Confession  should  be  allegiance 
to  truth.  Will  you  degrade  it  to  be  the  unstable  ex- 
pression of  the  average  opinion  of  your  members  ? 

There  is  but  one  way  to  free  yourselves  from  all 
these  difficulties.  Recognize  no  dogma  as  absolute 
and  reverence  no  confession  as  infallible  ;  but  let  truth, 
ascertainable  truth,  be  the  supreme  judge  of  all  doc- 
trines and  of  all  traditions. 

Your  bible,  your  hymn-book,  your  catechism,  the 
history  of  your  church,  and  the  reminiscences  of  your 
venerable  leaders  shall  remain  respected  among  your- 
self and  children,  but  let  them  not  be  overrated  in 
their  authority.  Truth  reigns  above  them  all,  and 
the  holiness  of  truth  is  the  foundation  of  all  true  re- 
ligion. 

When  Luther  stood  before  the  emperor  and  the 
representatives  of  church  and  state,  he  begged  to  be 
refuted,  and  if  he  were  refuted,  he  promised  to  keep 
silence ;  but  as  he  was  not,  he  continued  to  preach 
and  he  preached  boldly  in  the  name  of  truth  as  one 
that  had  authority.  Therefore  let  religious  progress 
be  made  as  in  the  era  of  the  Reformation,  not  in  com- 
plaisance to  popular  opinion,  but  squarely  in  the 
name  of  truth. 


THE  RELIGION  OF  PROGRESS. 


VLADIMIR  SOLOVIEFF,  a  Russian  thinker  of  uncom- 
mon depth  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  central 
idea  of  Christianity  must  be  sought  in  the  glad  tidings 
of  the  kingdom  of  God.  He  says:  *  "To  either  the 
direct  or  indirect  elucidation  of  this  idea  are  devoted 
almost  all  the  sermons  and  parables  of  Christ,  his  eso- 
teric conversations  with  the  disciples,  and  finally  the 
prayer  to  God  the  Father.  From  the  connection  of 
the  texts  relating  thereto,  it  is  clear,  that  the  evangel- 
ical idea  of  the  kingdom  is  not  derived  from  the  con- 
cept of  divine  rule,  existing  above  all  things,  and  at- 
tributed to  God,  conceived  as  almighty.  The  king- 
dom proclaimed  by  Christ  is  a  thing,  advancing,  ap- 
proaching, arriving.  Moreover  it  possesses  different 
sides  of  its  own.  It  is  within  us,  and  likewise  reveals 
itself  without ;  it  keeps  growing  within  humanity  and 
the  whole  world  by  means  of  a  certain  objective,  or- 
ganic process,  and  it  is  taken  hold  of  by  a  spontane- 
ous effort  of  our  own  will." 

This  conception  of  Christianity  is  strikingly  correct. 
Taking  the  gospels  of  the  New  Testament  as  our  source 

•"Christianity:  Its  Spirit  and  its  Errors."  The  Open  Court,  Vol.  V,  No. 
206,  p.  2900.  Translated  from  the  Russian  Quarterly  Voprosui  Filosofii  i  Psi- 
chologii  by  Albert  Gunlogsen. 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  33 

of  information,  we  find  none  of  the  Church  dogmas 
proclaimed,  but  we  hear  again  and  again  that  the  king- 
dom of  God  is  near  at  hand,  and  that  the  kingdom  of 
God  cometh  not  with  observation,  i.  e.  with  ceremo- 
nies or  rites.  It  is  not  an  institution  as  are  syna- 
gogues and  churches.  It  exists  in  the  hearts  of  men. 
We  must  create  it,  we  must  make  it  grow  within  us, 
Our  own  efforts  are  needed  to  let  it  come.  Says  Christ : 
"  From  the  days  of  John  the  Baptist  until  now  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  suffereth  violence,  and  the  violent 
take  it  by  force." 

Is  this  not  a  strange  conception  of  the  kingdom  of 
God?  Indeed  it  is,  if  we  preserve  the  orthodox  God- 
idea  of  a  personal  world- monarch.  But  it  is  not  a 
strange  conception  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  if  we  un- 
derstand by  God  the  divinity  of  the  universe  and  the 
potentiality  of  spiritual  life  which  has  produced  us  and 
leads  us  onward  still  on  the  path  of  progress  to  ever 
greater  truths  and  sublimer  heights. 

What  is  the  meaning  of  the  kingdom  of  God  if  we 
state  it  in  purely  scientific  terms  without  using  the 
symbolism  of  allegorical  expressions?  God  means 
that  reality  about  us  and  within  us  in  which  we  live 
and  move  and  have  our  being,  and  the  kingdom  of  God 
which  has  to  come,  which  grows  within  us,  is  our 
knowledge  of  God,  it  is  our  cognition  of  reality,  it  is 
the  evolution  of  truth.  What  is  truth  but  a  correct 
conception  of  reality  and  what  is  all  religion  but  our 
agreement  with  truth  in  thought  as  well  as  in  action  ? 

When  asked  by  Pilate  whether  he  was  a  king 
Christ  said  :  "Thou  sayest  that  I  am  a  king.  To  this 
end  I  was  born,  and  to  this  cause  I  came  into  the 
world  that  I  should  bear  witness  unto  the  truth.  Ev- 
eryone that  is  of  the  truth,  heareth  my  voice." 


()/•'  SC/KXl  'A. 

Christ  considered  himself  as  a  king  of  truth.  "  My 
kingdom,"  he  said,  "is  not  of  this  world,"  meaning 
thereby  the  world  in  which  the  ambition  of  Pilate  was 
centered.  Christ  did  not  intend  to  exercise  political 
power  and  the  accusations  of  his  enemies  as  well  as 
the  hopes  of  his  followers  that  he  would  create  a 
worldly  kingdom  were  unfounded.  His  kingdom  was 
a  spiritual  kingdom — the  kingdom  of  truth.  Truth 
however  is  not  something  that  exists  somewhere  as 
objects  exist  in  material  reality,  truth  is  the  correct- 
ness, the  validity,  the  adequateness  of  our  concep- 
tions of  reality;  and  truth  does  not  come  to  us,  we 
must  produce  it,  we  must  work  it  out  through  our  own 
efforts,  we  must  build  it  up  in  our  own  souls.  The 
more  we  have  acquired  of  truth,  the  more  we  shall 
partake  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  For  Truth  is  the 
kingdom  of  God  and  the  kingdom  of  God  is  Truth. 
Every  other  conception  of  the  kingdom  of  God  is  pure 
mythology. 

Christianity  being  the  gospel  of  the  kingdom  of 
God,  it  became  the  religion  of  progress.  Its  aim  is 
the  growth  of  truth  within  us,  and  all  our  efforts  are 
needed  to  develop  truth.  Thus  a  spiritual  realm  of 
truth  and  of  obedience  to  truth,  i.  e.  morality  was 
created  ;  and  this  spirit  of  progress  remained  the  liv- 
ing spirit  of  Christianity  in  spite  of  all  the  vagaries  of 
the  Christian  churches. 

Dogmatic  Christianity  is  dead.  Yet  it  still  exists 
as  a  dead  weight.  Dogmatism  is  barren  like  the  thorns 
and  thistles  in  the  parable,  and  it  is  choking  the  spirit 
of  the  Christian  religion,  but  this  spirit  will  not  die, 
it  will  spring  up  again  and  lead  mankind  upward  and 
onward  to  higher  and  grander  goals. 

The  test  of  progress  is  ever  increasing  truth,  i.  e. 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  35 

an  ever  more  comprehensive  conception  of  the  world 
we  live  in  ;  yet  the  test  of  religion  is  progress. 

He  alone  is  Christ  the  Messiah,  the  saviour  who 
leads  us  onward  on  the  path  of  progress,  and  he  only 
is  a  disciple  of  Christ  who  courageously  follows  on  the 
path  of  progress.  Those  who  attempt  to  make  man- 
kind stationary,  who  try  to  lock  up  the  stream  of  life, 
and  prevent  the  soul  from  growing  and  expanding, 
from  increasing  in  the  knowledge  of  the  truth  and  thus 
developing  the  kingdom  of  God,  are  false  prophets 
who  come  to  us  in  sheep's  clothes.  They  preach  the 
letter  of  the  gospel  but  suppress  its  spirit. 


THE  TEST  OF  PROGRESS, 


THE  word  "Progress"  is  one  of  the  most  com- 
monly used  terms  and  yet  its  meaning  is  extremely 
vague  with  most  people.  Progress  is  the  ideal  of  our 
time  and  the  glory  of  this  generation.  But  what  is 
progress  ?  Can  we  give  a  definite  and  clear  answer 
to  this  question,  or  is  "progress"  one  of  the  many 
words  by  which  people  feel  much  but  think  little? 

Progress  is  the  act  of  stepping  forward,  it  is  a 
march  onward.  But  who  can  tell  us  the  right  direc- 
tion of  an  onward  march  ?  Did  it  ever  happen  to  you 
when  travelling  on  your  ideal  highroad  of  progress  that 
you  met  a  man  who  marched  in  the  direction  which 
you  left  behind  ?  It  happens  very  often,  and  if  you 
inquire  of  the  wanderer,  Why  do  you  go  backward  in- 
stead of  forward  ?  he  will  assure  you  that  he  marches 
onward  while  you  yourself  are  retrogressive.  Those 
who  preach  progress  are  by  no  means  unanimously 
agreed  as  to  the  right  direction.  Make  a  chart  of  all 
the  directions  propounded  and  it  will  look  like  a  com- 
pass dial.  All  directions  possible  are  represented  and 
there  are  not  a  few  who  believe  that  the  development 
of  our  present  civilisation  proceeds  in  the  wrong  di- 
rection ;  they  call  us  actually  backwards  to  stages 
which  lie  behind  us  in  a  distant  past  and  would  con- 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  37 

sider  a  return  to  them  as  real  progress.  These  retro- 
gressive reformers  are  not  so  much  among  the  ultra- 
conservative  classes  as  among  the  ultra-radical  en- 
thusiasts who  in  one-sided  idealism  find  perfection  in 
the  most  primitive  states  either  of  absolute  anarchy 
or  absolute  socialism,  or  whatever  may  be  their  special 
hobby. 

The  question,  What  is  progress  ?  is  of  paramount 
importance  to  ethics.  For  if  there  is  no  progress,  if 
the  direction  of  the  onward  movement  is  either  inde- 
terminable or  indifferent,  then,  certainly  there  is  no 
ethics.  And  if  there  is  a  special  and  determinable 
line  along  which  alone  progress  has  to  take  place,  it 
is  this  alone  which  has  to  be  used  as  a  compass  for 
our  course  of  action.  This  line  alone  can  be  the  norm 
of  morality.  From  this  alone  we  have  to  derive  our 
moral  rules,  this  alone  can  give  us  the  real  contents  of 
the  otherwise  empty  and  meaningless  term  of  moral 
goodness  and  this  alone  must  constitute  our  basis  of 
ethics. 

Our  time  should  know  what  progress  is,  for  our 
generation  surveys  the  origin  and  growth  of  life  so 
much  better  than  did  any  previous  generation.  We 
now  know  that  all  life  follows  certain  laws  of  evolution 
and  has  begun  from  the  very  beginning  as  slimy  specks 
of  living  substance  developing  to  the  present  state. 
The  man  of  to-day  is  the  product  of  that  evolution,  and 
man's  progress  is  nothing  but  a  special  form  of  evo- 
lution ;  it  is  the  evolution  of  mankind.  Our  scientists 
have  discovered  the  fundamental  laws  of  evolution  ; 
so  they  may  be  able  to  give  us  a  satisfactory  explana- 
tion of  progress.  The  law  of  evolution  we  are  informed 
is  adaptation  to  surroundings.  The  polar  bear  adapts 
himself  in  the  color  of  his  skin  and  in  his  habits  to  his 


38  HOMILIES  Of  SCIENCE. 

environment ;  while  the  insects  of  Madeira  lose  their 
power  of  flight  and  have  to  a  great  extent  become  wing- 
less. There  is  a  survival  of  the  fittest  everywhere,  but 
natural  selection  does  not  always  favor  the  strongest 
and  the  best.  The  ablest  flyers  on  the  islands  are 
swept  by  the  winds  into  the  ocean  and  the  weak  only 
will  survive,  those  who  are  lacking  in  a  special  virtue, 
but  not  the  bravest,  not  the  strongest,  not  the  best! 

May  we  not  imagine  that  there  are  periods  or  so- 
cieties so  radically  corrupt  (and  history  actually  teaches 
that  there  were  repeatedly  such  eras)  in  which  the 
spirit  of  the  time  made  it  actually  impossible  for  good 
men  to  exist  and  to  act  morally.  The  evil  influence 
of  tyranny,  of  corruption,  or  of  hypocrisy  swept  the 
brave,  the  courageous,  the  honest,  the  thinking  out 
of  existence  and  allowed  only  the  weak,  the  degen- 
erate, the  unthinking  to  remain  ?  It  is  true  that  when- 
ever a  nation  fell  under  such  a  blight,  she  was  doomed. 
Other  nations  took  her  place  and  there  were  quite  a 
number  of  peoples  entirely  blotted  out  from  the  face 
of  the  globe.  We  have  progressive  as  well  as  retro- 
gressive adaptation  (as  Professor  Weismann  informs 
us),  and  adaptation  in  many  cases  is  no  sign  of  pro- 
gress in  the  physical  world,  let  alone  the  moral  pro- 
gress of  human  beings.  We  may  say  that  the  law  of 
adaptation  explains  survival,  but  it  cannot  afford  a 
criterion  of  progress. 

We  will  ask  the  philosopher  what  progress  is.  The 
philosopher  takes  a  higher  and  more  general  view  of 
life,  he  may  give  us  a  broader  and  better  information 
as  to  what  is  the  characteristic  feature  of  progress. 
Progress,  we  are  told,  is  "a  passage  from  a  homoge- 
neous to  a  heterogeneous  state."  .  .  .  "It  is  a  contin- 
ually increasing  disintegration  of  the  whole  mass  ac- 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE  39 

companied  by  an  integration,  a  differentiation,  and  a 
mutual,  perpetually-increasing  dependence  of  parts  as 
well  as  of  functions,  and  by  a  tendency  to  equilibrium 
in  the  functions  of  the  parts  integrated."  Complexity, 
it  is  maintained,  is  a  sign  of  a  higher  evolution,  and 
it  is  true — in  many  respects  higher  forms  of  exist- 
ence are  richer,  more  elaborate,  more  specialised,  than 
lower  forms.  But  is  therefore  complexity  the  crite- 
rion of  progress ;  can  we  use  it  as  a  test  wherever  we 
are  in  doubt  in  a  special  case.  Does  it  show  us  the 
nature  of  progress,  its  meaning  and  importance?  It 
appears  that  this  explanation  is  not  even  generally 
true,  for  there  are  most  weighty  and  serious  excep- 
tions which  overthrow  the  validity  of  this  formula  en- 
tirely. Is  not  the  progress  in  the  invention  of  ma- 
chinery from  the  more  complex  to  the  less  complex? 
Invent  a  machine  to  do  a  special  kind  of  work  simpler 
than  those  at  present  in  use  ;  it  will,  the  amount  and 
exactitude  of  work  being  equal,  on  the  strength  of  its 
simplicity  alone  be  considered  superior  and  it  will  soon 
replace  the  more  complex  machinery  in  the  market. 
Mr.  Herbert  Spencer,  the  philosopher  of  evolu- 
tion, overlooked  the  main  point  when  he  attempted  to 
explain  evolution  as  he  proposed  in  terms  of  matter 
and  motion.  Evolution  means  change  of  form,  and 
this  change  of  form  has  a  special  meaning.  Evolu- 
tion is  not  a  material  process  and  not  a  mechanical 
process,  and  the  attempt  to  solve  the  problem  of  evo- 
lution on  the  ground  of  materialism  or  mechanicalism 
(i.  e.  to  express  its  law  in  terms  of  matter  and  motion) 
must  necessarily  be  a  failure.  Mr.  Spencer,  it  is  true, 
recognises  the  importance  of  the  formal  element,  for 
his  view  of  increasing  complexity  involves  form  and 
change  of  form.  Yet  he  selects  *a  mere  external 


4o  HOMILIES  o/>'  .vc  •//•;. v<  •/•.. 

feature  (one  that  is  not  even  a  universal)  as  charac- 
teristic of  evolution  and  he  neglects  the  very  meaning 
of  the  change  of  form.  This  meaning  remaining  as  an 
irresoluble  residue  in  his  philosophical  crucible  might 
find  a  place  of  shelter  under  the  protecting  wings  of 
the  Unknowable  ;  but  this  meaning  of  the  change  of 
form  is  the  very  nerve  of  the  question  and  all  other 
things  are  matters  of  detail  and  secondary  considera- 
tion. 

The  evolution  of  the  solar  system,  being  a  mechan- 
ical process  may  find  in  the  Kant-La  Place  hypothesis 
a  purely  mechanical  solution.  But  the  evolution  of 
animal  life  is  not  a  purely  mechanical  process.  There 
is  in  it  an  element  of  feeling  which  is  not  mechanical. 
I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  the  nervous  process  which 
takes  place  while  an  animal  feels  is  not  mechanical. 
On  the  contrary  I  consider  all  processes  which  are 
changes  of  place,  biological  processes  included,  as  in- 
stances of  molar  or  molecular  mechanics.  But  the 
feeling  itself  is  no  mechanical  phenomenon.  It  is  a 
state  of  awareness  and  in  this  state  of  awareness  some- 
thing is  represented.  This  state  of  awareness  has  a 
meaning,  which  may  be  called  its  contents. 

I  do  not  hesitate  to  consider  the  meaning  that  feel- 
ing acquires  as  the  characteristic  feature  not  only  of 
animal  but  especially  also  of  intellectual  life — of  the 
life  of  man.  It  is  upon  the  meaning-freighted  feelings 
that  soul  life  originates.  Let  every  special  feeling, 
representing  a  special  condition  or  object,  be  consti- 
tuted by  a  special  form  of  rrerve-action,  and  we  should 
see  the  soul,  the  psychological  aspect  of  nerve-forms, 
develop  together  with  the  organism.  A  higher  devel- 
opment leads  naturally,  as  a  rule  but  not  without  ex- 
ceptions, to  a  greater  complexity  of  nerve-forms.  Yet 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  41 

it  is  not  this  complexity  which  constitutes  the  evolu- 
tion of  the  soul  and  the  progress  in  the  development 
of  the  organism.  The  test  of  progress  can  be  found 
in  the  meaning  alone  with  which  the  feelings  that  live 
in  the  action  of  these  nerve-forms,  are  freighted. 

What  is  this  meaning  ? 

The  different  soul-forms  (so  we  may  for  brevity's 
sake  call  these  feelings,  living  in  the  different  nerve- 
structures)  represent  special  experiences  and  through 
these  experiences  the  surroundings  of  the  organism 
are  depicted.  The  soul  accordingly  is  an  image  of 
the  world  impressed  into  living  substance  and  de- 
picted in  feelings.  This  however  is  not  all,  the  soul 
is  more  than  that.  It  is  also  the  psychical  aspect  of 
the  reaction  that  takes  place  in  response  to  the  stim- 
uli of  the  surroundings.  And  this  reaction  is  indeed 
the  most  important  part  in  the  life  of  the  soul.  The 
former  may  be  called  by  a  generalised  name  cogni- 
tion or  intelligence,  the  latter  activity  or  ethics.  The 
former  has  no  other  purpose  than  to  serve  as  an  in- 
formation for  the  proper  direction  and  guidance  of  the 
latter. 

We  do  not  consider  the  world  as  a  chaos  of  mate- 
rial particles.  We  do  not  believe  that  blind  chance 
rules  supreme.  On  the  contrary  we  see  order  every- 
where and  law  is  the  regulating  principle  in  all  things 
and  processes.  The  world  is  not  a  meaningless  med- 
ley, but  a  cosmos  which  in  its  minutest  parts  is  full  of 
significance  and  purport.  And  this  truth  has  found  a 
religious  expression  in  the  God-idea.  The  world  con- 
sidered in  its  cosmic  grandeur  is  divine,  and  when  in 
the  process  of  evolution  the  soul  develops  as  an  image 
of  the  world,  the  divinity  of  the  cosmos  is  also  mir- 
rored in  the  soul.  The  higher  animal  life  rises,  the 


42  1IOMIUKS  OP  SCIENCE. 

more  does  it  partake  of  the  divine,  and  it  reaches  the 
highest  climax  in  men  and  finally  in  the  ideal  of  a  per- 
fectly moral  man — in  the  God  man. 

The  test  of  progress  must  be  sought  in  the  growth 
of  soul.  The  more  perfectly,  the  more  completely, 
the  more  truthfully  the  world  is  imaged  in  the  soul- 
forms,  so  as  to  enable  mankind,  the  individual  man  as 
well  as  the  race,  to  react  appropriately  upon  the  pro- 
per occasions,  to  be  up  in  doing  and  achieving,  to  act 
wisely,  aspiringly  and  morally,  the  higher  have  we 
risen  on  the  scale  of  evolution.  It  is  not  the  com- 
plexity of  soul-forms  which  creates  their  value,  it  is 
their  correctness,  their  congruence  with  reality,  their 
truth.  Evolution  sometimes  leads  to  a  greater  com- 
plexity. In  the  realm  of  cognition  it  does  so  wherever 
discrimination  is  needed.  But  sometimes  again  it  will 
lead  to  a  greater  simplicity.  Complexity  alone  would 
have  a  bewildering  aspect,  it  must  be  combined  with 
economy,  and  the  economy  of  thought  is  so  important 
because  it  simplifies  our  intelligence  ;  it  enables  us  not 
only  to  see  more  of  truth  at  once  but  also  to  recognise 
the  laws  of  nature,  the  order  of  the  cosmos,  and  its 
divinity. 

The  test  of  progress,  in  one  word,  is  the  realisa- 
tion of  truth  extensive  as  well  as  intensive,  in  the  soul 
of  man.  The  more  truth  the  human  soul  contains 
and  the  more  it  utilises  the  truth  in  life,  the  more  pow- 
erful it  will  be  and  the  more  moral.  In  this  way  the 
soul  partakes  of  the  divinity  of  its  creator,  call  it  na- 
ture or  God ;  it  will  come  more  and  more  in  harmony 
with  the  cosmos,  it  will  more  and  more  conform  to  its 
laws,  it  will  be  the  more  religious,  the  holier,  the 
greater,  the  diviner,  the  higher  it  develops  and  the 
further  it  progresses. 


THE  ETHICS  OF  EVOLUTION. 


THE  first  chapter  of  Genesis  is  at  present  inter- 
preted by  the  greatest  number  of  our  theologians  in  a 
sense  which  is  hostile  to  the  theory  of  evolution.  It 
is  nevertheless  one  of  the  most  remarkable  documents 
that  prove  the  age  of  the  idea,"  for  no  impartial  reader, 
either  of  the  original  or  of  a  correct  translation  will  find 
the  dogma  of  special  creation  acts  out  of  nothing  justi- 
fied in  these  verses.  The  first  verses  of  Genesis  tell  us 
that  God  "shaped"  the  world  beginning  with  simple 
forms  of  non-organised  matter  and  rising  to  the  higher 
and  more  complex  forms  of  plants  and  animals.  God 
shaped  the  heaven  and  the  earth,  is  the  correct  trans- 
lation, he  made  the  greater  and  the  lesser  light,  i.  e.  he 
formed  them  ;  he  made  man  and  the  breath  of  man's 
life  is  God's  own  breath.  If  Darwin  himself  or  a  poet 
like  Milton,  thoroughly  versed  in  Darwinian  thought, 
had  been  called  upon  to  present  the  evolution  theory 
in  a  popular  form  to  the  contemporaries  of  Moses  they 
could  not  have  described  it  in  a  more  striking  man- 
ner. Any  improvements  upon  the  Mosaic  account 
which  could  be  suggested  are  mere  trifles  and  matters 
of  detail. 

It  is  a  fact  that  ethical  aspirations,  the  ideal  of 
elevating  humanity,  of  raising  men  upon  the  higher 


44  I/OM/L//:S  OF  SCIENCE. 

level  of  a  divine  manhood,  of  creating  a  nobler  type 
of  human  beings,  of  saving  the  souls  that  would  go 
astray  and  showing  them  the  narrow  and  strait  gate 
which  alone  leads  into  life, — in  short  the  sursum  of 
evolution, — have  been  the  kernel  of  all  religions,  espe- 
cially those  great  religions  which  in  the  struggle  for 
existence  have  survived  up  to  this  day — Brahmanism, 
Buddhism,  Judaism,  Christianity,  and  Mohammedan- 
ism. Nevertheless  the  idea  of-  evolution  is  still  looked 
upon  with  suspicion  by  the  so-called  orthodox  leaders 
of  our  churches.  Do  they  not  as  yet  understand  the 
religious  nature  of  the  idea?  Or  is  it  perhaps  exactly 
its  religious  nature  of  which  they  are  afraid  ?  For 
being  a  religious  truth,  it  will  in  time  sweep  away 
many  religious  errors  which  are  fondly  cherished  and 
have  grown  dear  to  pious  souls. 

The  idea  of  evolution  as  a  vague  and  popular  con- 
ception of  the  world-process  is  very  old,  but  as  a  theory 
based  upon  exact  science  it  is  not  much  older  than  a 
century. 

Kant  told  us  in  his  "  Natural  History  of  the 
Starry  Heavens"  that  an  evolution  is  taking  place  in 
the  skies,  forming  according  to  mechanical  laws  solar 
systems  out  of  the  chaotic  wcrld-dust  of  nebulae.  Cas- 
par Friedrich  Wolff,*  Lamarck, f  Treviranus,|  Karl 
von  Baer,  §  and  others  came  to  the  same  conclusion 
with  regard  to  the  domain  of  organised  life  and  Baer 
pronounced  the  proposition  that  evolution  was  the 
fundamental  idea  of  the  whole  universe.  ||  The  work 
of  these  men  is  the  foundation  upon  which  Charles 

*  Tkeoria  Generationis.     1759. 

t  rkilosophic  Zoologique.     1/94. 

J  Biologie.     1802. 

Si  Entitiickelungs-Geschi'-hte  der  Thiere.     1878 

|  Ibid.  p.  C94. 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  45 

Darwin  stood.  This  great  hero  of  scientific  investiga- 
tion collected  with  keenest  discrimination  and  most 
careful  circumspection  the  facts  which  prove  that  the 
struggle  for  life  will  permit  only  those  to  survive  which 
are  the  fittest  to  live  and  will  thus  bring  about  not 
only  a  differentiation  of  species,  not  only  an  increasing 
adaptation  to  circumstances  in  the  animal  world  at 
large,  but  also  the  progress  of  the  human  race. 

The  evolution  in  the  animal  kingdom  has  a  peculi- 
arity which  distinguishes  it  from  that  of  the  starry 
heavens.  It  takes  place  exactly  in  the  same  way  ac- 
cording to  mechanical  laws,  being  a  complex  process 
of  differentiation,  yet  there  is  an  additional  element  in 
it.  Animals  are  feeling  beings. 

When  certain  motions  pass  through  the  organism 
of  an  animal  there  arises  an  awareness  of  the  motion, 
and  this  awareness,  which  is  a  mere  subjective  state, 
is  called  "feeling."  The  same  impressions  produce 
the  same  forms  of  vibrations  in  the  organism  and  the 
same  forms  of  vibrations  in  the  organism  exhibit  the 
same  feelings.  Every  impression  however  leaves  a 
trace  in  the  system  which  is  preserved  and  when  pro- 
perly stimulated  will  be  reawakened  together  with  its 
feeling  element.  When  new  sense-impressions  are 
produced,  the  old  memories  of  the  same  kind  reawaken 
together  with  them,  and  all  their  feelings  blend  into 
one  state  of  consciousness  richer  than  the  present 
sense-impression  could  be,  if  it  stood  alone  and  un- 
connected with  the  traces  of  former  sense-impressions. 
In  this  way  the  whole  world  of  an  animal's  surround- 
ings is  being  mapped  out  in  the  traces  left  in  the  or- 
ganism according  to  the  law  of  the  preservation  of 
form,  as  after-effects  of  sense-impressions  and  of  their 
correlated  reactions.  Many  of  these  traces  when  stim- 


46  UOMIl.fF.S  OF  A •(•//•.. \ -('A 

ulated  into  activity  exhibit  states  of  awareness  and 
thus  consciousness  rises  into  existence  constituting  a 
realm  of  spiritual  life. 

This  spiritual  life  has  been  called  the  ideal  world  in 
opposition  to  the  world  of  objective  reality — ideal  mean- 
ing pictorial,  for  the  ideal  world  depicts  the  real  world 
in  images  woven  of  the  glowing  material  of  feelings. 

Evolution  in  the  animal  world  concentrates  more 
and  more  in  a  development  of  the  ideal  world  and  this 
ideal  world  is  not  something  foreign  to  the  world  of 
objective  realities  which  it  mirrors,  it  is  intimately  in- 
terconnected with  it.  Reality  must  be  thought  of  as 
containing  in  itself  the  conditions  of  bringing  forth 
feeling  beings  and  through  feeling  beings  the  ideal 
world  ;  and  this  ideal  world  is  not  merely  a  phantas- 
magoria, a  beautiful  mirage  without  any  practical  pur- 
pose, it  is  to  the  beings  which  develop  it  the  most 
important  and  indispensable  thing,  for  it  serves  them 
as  a  guide  through  life  and  as  a  basis  for  regulating 
their  actions.  If  the  world  of  objective  realities  is 
correctly  depicted  in  the  ideal  world,  it  will  help  them 
to  act  in  the  right  way,  so  as  to  preserve  their  lives, 
their  existence,  their  souls.  Ideas  which  are  correct, 
which  faithfully  represent  the  realities  which  they  de- 
pict, are  called  true,  and  actions  which  are  based  on 
and  regulated  by  true  ideas  are  called  right  or  moral. 

Thus  the  ideal  world  contains  in  germ  the  possi- 
bilities of  truth  and  of  morality. 

Evolution  in  the  spiritual  world  means  the  devel- 
opment of  truth,  it  means  an  expanse  of  the  soul,  a 
growth  of  the  mind  as  well  as  a  strengthening  of  the 
character  to  live  in  obedience  to  truth. 

When  Mr.  Spencer  undertook  to  write  a  philosophy 
of  evolution,  he  was  fully  conscious  of  the  sweeping 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  .  47 

importance  of  the  evolution  theory,  but  when  he  ap- 
proached the  ethical  problem,  he  became  inconsistent 
with  his  own  principle  and  instead  of  establishing  an 
ethics  of  evolution,  he  propounded  an  ethics  of  hedon- 
ism regarding  that  action  as  right  which  produced  the 
greatest  surplus  of  pleasurable  feelings. 

Pleasurable  feelings  are  experienced  under  most 
contradictory  conditions.  Pleasures  cannot  form  any 
standard  of  ethics  or  a  regulative  principle  to  guide 
our  appetites.  Pleasures  on  the  contrary  are  often 
dangerously  misleading  and  many  a  life  has  been 
wrecked  by  trying  to  choose  that  course  of  action  which 
promises  a  surplus  of  pleasures. 

Feelings  are  mere  subjective  states  and  their  im- 
portance depends  entirely  upon  the  meanings  which 
they  convey.  It  is  not  the  pleasurableness  of  feelings 
and  of  ideas  which  ought  to  be  considered  when  they 
are  proposed  as  norms  for  action,  but  their  correctness, 
their  truth.  That  which  brings  man  nearer  the  truth 
and  harmonises  our  actions  with  the  truth  is  right,  and 
that  which  alienates  man  from  the  truth  is  wrong. 
Accordingly  that  which  makes  our  souls  grow  and 
evolve  is  moral,  that  which  dwarfs  our  souls  and  pre- 
vents their  evolution  is  immoral. 

There  is  but  one  ethics  and  that  ethics  is  the  ethics 
of  evolution. 


FAIRY  TALES  AND  THEIR  IMPORTANCE 


THE  attempt  has  been  made  to  banish  fairy  tales 
from  our  nurseries.  The  cry  is  raised  "away  with 
ogres  and  fairies,  away  with  fictitious  monsters  !  Let 
us  teach  our  children  truth  and  nothing  but  truth. 
Prepare  their  minds  for  life.  It  is  a  downright  in- 
jury to  fill  their  imagination  with  stories  that  are  un- 
real, untrue,  and  even  impossible." 

This  proposition  is  made  on  the  ground  that  every- 
thing unreal  is  untrue  ;  therefore  it  is  obnoxious  and 
should  not  be  allowed  to  be  instilled  into  the  minds  of 
children. 

The  principle  of  removing  everything  untrue  from 
our  plan  of  education  is  unquestionably  good.  The 
purpose  of  education  is  to  make  children  fit  for  life, 
and  one  indispensable  condition  is  to  teach  them  truth, 
wherever  we  are  in  possession  of  truth  ;  and,  what  is 
more,  to  teach  them  the  method  how  to  arrive  at  truth, 
how  to  criticise  propositions,  wherever  we  have  not  as 
yet  arrived  at  a  clear  and  indisputable  statement  of 
truth. 

Allowing  that  fairy  tales  are  unreal  and  may  lead 
the  imagination  of  children  astray  :  are  they  for  this 
very  reason  untrue  ?  Do  they  not  contain  truths  of 
great  importance,  which  it  is  very  difficult  to  tearh 
children  otherwise  than  in  the  poetic  shape  of  fairy 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  49 

tales  ?  I  believe  this  is  the  reason  why  in  spite  of  so 
much  theoretical  antagonism  to  fairy  tales  they  have 
practically  never  been,  and  perhaps  never  will  be,  re- 
moved from  our  nurseries.  There  are  no  witches  who 
threaten  to  abuse  the  innocence  of  children,  and  there 
are  no  fairies  to  protect  them.  But  are  there  not  im- 
personal influences  abroad  that  act  as  if  they  were 
witches,  and  are  there  not  also  some  almost  unac- 
countable conditions  in  the  nature  of  things  that  we 
meet  often  in  the  course  of  events,  but  which  act  as  if 
they  were  good  fairies  to  protect  children  (and  no  less 
the  adult  children  of  nature  called  men,)  in  dangers 
which  surround  them  everywhere,  and  of  which  they 
are  not  always  conscious  ? 

Science  will  at  a  maturer  age  explain  such  mys- 
teries, it  will  reveal  to  the  insight  of  a  savant  that 
which  is  a  marvelous  miracle  to  the  childish  concep- 
tion of  an  immature  observation.  But  so  long  as  our 
boys  and  girls  are  not  born  as  savants,  they  have  to 
pass  through  the  period  of  childhood,  they  have  to 
develop  by  degrees  and  have  to  assimilate  the  facts  of 
life,  they  have  to  acquire  truth  in  the  way  we  did, 
when  we  were  children,  as  the  race  did,  when  hu- 
manity was  in  a  state  of  helpless  childhood  still. 

Did  not  religion  also  come  to  us  in  the  form  of  a 
fairy  tale  ?  And  is  not  a  great  truth  contained  in  the 
legend  of  Christianity  ?  The  belief  in  the  fairy  tale  will 
pass  away,  but  the  truth  will  remain. 

The  development  of  children,  it  has  been  observed, 
is  a  short  repetition  of  the  development  of  the  race. 
Will  it  be  advisable  to  suppress  that  stage  in  which 
the  taste  for  fairy  tales  is  natural?  Is  not  a  knowledge 
of  legends,  fairy  tales,  and  sagas  an  indispensable  part 
of  our  education,  which,  if  lacking,  will  make  it  impos- 


50  //(W//./A.Y  01-  SCIENCE. 

sible  to  understand  the  most  common  place  allusions 
in  popular  authors  ?  Our  art  galleries  will  become  a 
book  with  seven  seals  to  him  who  knows  nothing  about 
the  labors  of  Hercules  or  the  Gods  of  Olympus.  Will 
you  compensate  the  want  of  an  acquaintance  with  our 
most  well-known  legends,  sagas,  and  characters  of  fic- 
tion at  a  later  period,  when  the  taste  for  such  things  has 
passed  away  ? 

I  met  once  an  otherwise  well-educated  lady  who 
did  not  know  who  Samson  was.  An  allusion  to  Sam- 
son's locks  had  no  meaning  to  her,  for  she  had  en- 
joyed a  liberal  education,  her  parents  being  free- 
thinkers, she  had  never  read  the  Bible  and  knew  only 
that  the  Bible  was  an  old  fashioned  work,  chiefly  of 
old  Hebrew  literature,  which  she  supposed  was  full 
of  contradictions  and  without  any  real  value. 

A  total  abolition  of  fairy  tales  is  not  only  inadvis- 
able, but  will  be  found  to  be  an  impossibility.  There 
are  certain  classical  fairy  tales,  sagas,  and  legends, 
which  have  contributed  to  the  ethical,  religious,  and 
even  scientific  formation  of  the  human  mind.  Thus 
not  only  many  stories  in  the  Old  and  the  New  Testa- 
ment, but  also  Homer,  Hesiod,  and  many  German 
and  Arabian  fairy  tales  have  become  an  integral  part 
of  our  present  civilization.  We  cannot  do  away  with 
them  without  at  the  same  time  obliterating  the  devel- 
opment of  most  important  ideas.  Such  fairy  tales 
teach  us  the  natural  growth  of  certain  moral  truths 
in  the  human  mind.  These  moral  truths  were  com- 
prehended first  symbolically  and  evolved  by  and  by 
into  a  state  of  rational  clearness. 

I  do  not  propose  to  tell  children  lies,  to  tell  them 
stories  about  fairies  and  ogres  and  to  make  them  be- 
lieve these  stories.  Children,  having  an  average  in- 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  51 

telligence,  will  never  believe  the  stories,  however  much 
they  may  enjoy  them.  The  very  question  :  Is  that 
really  true  ?  repeated  perhaps  by  every  child,  betrays 
their  critical  mind.  Any  one  who  would  answer,  "  Of 
course,  every  word  is  literally  true,"  would  be  guilty 
of  implanting  an  untruth  in  the  young  minds  of  our 
children.  We  must  not  suppress  but  rather  develop 
the  natural  tendency  of  criticism. 

While  we  cannot  advise  the  doing  away  with  fairy 
tales,  we  can  very  well  suggest  that  the  substance  of 
them  may  be  critically  revised,  that  superfluous  matter 
may  be  removed  and  those  features  only  retained  that 
are  inspiring  and  instructive. 


THE  VALUE  OF  MYSTICISM. 


MYSTICISM  is  the  blight  of  science.  Mysticism  in 
science  is  like  a  fog  in  clear  daylight.  It  makes  the 
steps  of  the  wanderer  unsafe  and  robs  him  of  the 
use  of  his  most  valuable  sense — the  sense  of  sight. 
There  is  impenetrable  darkness  around  him  ;  every- 
thing is  confused  by  insolvable  problems.  The  whole 
world  appears  to  the  benighted  mystic  as  one  great 
and  inscrutable  enigma. 

Mysticism  in  religion  is  widely  different.  It  is 
here  where  the  value  of  mysticism  must  be  sought 
for.  But  religious  mysticism  does  not  claim  that 
truth  is  unknowable.  It  claims  not  only,  as  does 
science,  that  truth  can  be  known,  it  claims  that  truth 
can  be/<?//  even  before  it  is  known.  Truth  is  a  strong 
and  wholesome  power,  unconquerable  and  omnipotent, 
which  is  available  not  only  to  the  knowing  but  to  those 
also  who  grope  in  the  dark,  yet  cherish  the  love  of 
truth  in  their  hearts. 

A  scientist  can  scientifically  enquire  into  the  social 
laws,  and  can  after  a  life-time  of  long  and  laborious 
study  arrive  at  the  truth,  that  what  is  injurious  to  the 
swarm  is  not  good  for  the  bee.  The  ethical  maxims  : 
thou  shalt  not  steal,  thou  shalt  not  kill,  thou  shalt 
honor  father  and  mother,  the  scientist  will  perceive, 
are  not  cunningly  invented  by  religious  or  political 
leaders,  they  are  the  indispensable  conditions  under 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  53 

which  alone  society  can  exist.  Wherever  they  are  not 
heeded  the  whole  community  will  go  to  the  wall. 
The  individual  that  sins  against  these  laws  will  injure 
society,  yet  he  will  ruin  himself  at  the  same  time. 

The  ethical  truths  are  important  truths,  and  it  is 
good  to  know  them,  to  understand  their  full  import- 
ance. Yet  even  those  who  are  unable  to  grasp  them 
in  their  minds;  those  who  have  not  the  scientific 
knowledge  to  see  how  the  moral  law  works  destruction 
to  the  trespasser  and  is  a  blessing  to  him  who  keeps 
the  law — even  the  unscientific,  the  poor  in  spirit,  can 
feel  the  truth  ;  they  can  trustingly  accept  it  on  faith 
and  can  be  sure  that  they  are  right.  And  truly,  if 
they  do  accept  it,  if  they  act  accordingly,  they  are  better 
off  than  those  scientists  who  have  arrived  at  some 
approximations  that  upon  the  whole  it  is  perhaps  after 
all  even  for  the  single  individual  better  to  be  honest, 
than  to  be  shrewd. 

There  are  scientists  and  among  them  some  of 
great  name  and  fame,  who  after  a  life-time  of  long 
and  laborious  study  did  not  arrive  at  the  ethical 
truths  that  the  moral  commands  will  preserve,  and 
that  they  do  preserve,  both  the  individual  who  keeps 
them  and  the  society  to  which  that  individual  belongs. 
There  are  naturalists  who  are  very  familiar  with  a 
certain  province  of  nature,  especially  with  the  brute 
creation.  They  say,  not  the  morally  good  will  sur- 
vive, but  the  strongest,  the  cunningest  and  the 
shrewdest.  The  naturalists  who  say  that,  are  most 
learned  professors  ;  they  are  crammed  with  biological 
data,  and  have  made  many  zoological  observations ; 
they  know  facts  of  nature  and  have  classified  them  as 
natural  laws — but  Nature  herself  has  not  revealed  her 
divin-e  face  to  them.  They  have  not  entered  the  holy 


54  I/OMll.lES  (>/•'  .s 

of  holies  in  the  temple  of  Creation,  for  they  see  parts 
only,  and  do  not  perceire  the  whole  ;  they  overlook 
the  quietly  working  tendencies  of  the  whole.  They 
misinterpret  the  meaning  of  the  partial  truths  that 
happened  to  come  under  their  observation. 

Moral  truth  can  be  felt.  Therefore  let  religious 
mysticism  gain  hold  of  man  so  as  to  make  him  feel 
the  truth  of  the  moral  law  even  before  he  is  able  to 
understand  it. 

The  moral  feeling  is  man's  conscience.  The  moral 
law  and  man's  trust  in  the  truth  of  the  moral  law 
must  not  be  planted  into  the  reasoning  faculty  of  man 
only,  it  must  be  planted  by  example  and  instruction 
into  his  heart  long  before  the  reasoning  faculty  of  his 
mind  is  developed.  It  must  be  made  part  of  his  in- 
most soul  long  before  he  commences  to  study,  to 
learn,  and  to  observe.  It  must  be  the  basis  of  his 
whole  being,  and  the  determining  factor  of"  his  will. 

If  the  moral  law  were  merely  superadded  in  later 
life,  if  its  presence  in  our  minds  rested  upon  abstract 
conclusions  only,  upon  logical  arguments  and  syl- 
logisms, how  uncertain,  how  precarious  would  its  in- 
fluence be  upon  our  lives.  Rational  insight  must 
come  to  strengthen  the  moral  truth  of  our  soul,  but 
its  roots  must  be  deeply  buried  in  the  core  of  our 
heart.  Science  will  come  to  explain  what  conscience 
is,  and  why  conscience  is  right  in  this  or  in  that  case, 
science  will  also  assist  us  to  correct  an  erring  con- 
science, but  if  the  basis  of  a  man's  character  has  not 
been  laid  in  early  childhood,  science  will  come  too 
late  to  benefit  him  through  moralizing  arguments. 
A  conscience  that  is  grounded  upon  ratiocination  only, 
is  weak  in  comparison  to  a  conscience  that  permeates 
the  whole  being  of  a  man,  his  emotions,  his  will,  and 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  55 

his  understanding;  his  heart  as  well  as  his  head. 
Conscience  must  be,  as  we  say  in  popular  speech,  our 
"second  nature" — yea,  it  must  be  our  "first  nature," 
so  that  in  all  situations  of  life,  in  tribulations,  and  in 
temptations  it  will  well  up  unconsciously  with  an 
original  and  irresistible  power,  even  before  we  can 
reason  about  the  proper  course  of  our  actions. 

The  tempter  approaches  us  always  in  the  name  of 
science,  but  his  arguments  are  not  science,  they  are 
pseudo  science.  The  tempter  says:  "Do  not  be  fool- 
ish, be  wise.  The  criminals  are  convicted  not  for 
their  crimes  but  because  they  were  fools  ;  they  were 
not  shrewd  enough  to  escape  the  consequences  of  their 
deed.  Be  wise,  be  cunning  enough,  and  thou  wilt  out- 
wit all  the  world."  There  is  no  criminal  who  did  not 
think  himself  wise  enough  to  escape  the  law,  and  if 
he  regrets  at  all,  he  will  commonly  regret  not  the  deed 
but  one  or  the  other  of  his  mistakes  which,  as  he  sup- 
poses, betrayed  him.  The  criminal  tries  to  remove 
the  vestiges  of  his  deed  ;  yet  the  acts  done  to  this 
purpose  become  new  and  powerful  witnesses  against 
him.  They,  chiefly,  become  the  traitors  that  deliver 
him  to  the  judge. 

Do  not  be  deceived  by  the  pseudo-wisdom  of  your 
thoughts  that  lead  you  into  temptation.  They  will 
lead  you  into  ruin,  if  you  follow  them.  Do  not  be 
deceived  by  the  escape  of  evil-doers  from  their  legal 
punishment;  they  carry  a  punishment  within  them 
which  is  worse  than  the  penitentiary.  Neither  be 
deceived  by  the  success  of  the  unprincipled.  Many  of 
those  whom  you  suppose  to  be  morally  depraved,  are 
perhaps  after  all  not  so  unscrupulous  as  you  think. 
They  may  have  virtues  and  abilities,  strength  of  will, 
power  of  concentration,  industry,  intelligence,  fore- 


5r,  IIOM  ii.ii:*  (>/••  . 

sight  in  business  combinations,  of  which  you  think 
little,  but  which  meet  the  wants  of  their  time  and  serve 
the  common  good.  Such  men  succeeded,  perhaps,  in 
spite  of  those  faults  in  their  characters  to  which  you 
erroneously  attributed  their  success.  If  they  are  really 
unprincipled,  and  are  successful  in  their  enterprises, 
do  not  judge  of  them  before  you  have  seen  the  fulfill- 
ment of  their  destiny. 

The  royal  psalmist  of  Israel,  the  shepherd  boy,  who 
was  a  poet  and  at  the  same  time  a  hero,  who  became 
the  king  of  his  nation  because  he  treated  even  his 
enemies  with  justice,  had  during  his  career  often  seen 
the  unprincipled  succeed,  and  so  he  sang : 

I  have  seen  the  wicked  in  great  power  and  spreading  himself  like  a  green 
bay  tree. 

But  David  continues  : 

Yet  he  passed  away,  and,  lo,  he  was  not ;  yea  I  sought  him  but  he  could  not 
be  found. 

Mark  the  perfect  man  and  behold  the  upright,  for  the  end  of  that  man  is 
peace. 

It  ma)7  seem  to  you  as  if  crooked  means  were  better 
than  straightforward  truth,  as  if  small  trickery  and 
well-calculated  deceptions  would  gain  the  victory  over 
the  simplicity  of  honest  dealing.  It  may  seem  so  to  you 
and  it  may  seem  so  to  your  friends  and  advisers.  It 
is  not !  Truth  and  justice  are  always  stronger  than  the 
strongest  lies.  And  if  you  do  not  understand  it,  be- 
lieve it  and  act  accordingly. 

I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  if  your  cause  is  just,  if 
you  are  morally  good  and  honest  in  your  purpose,  that 
truth  and  justice  will  come  down  like  gods  from  heaven 
to  assist  you.  O,  no  !  You  must  fight  for  truth  and 
you  must  stand  up  for  justice  with  all  your  abilities  and 
foresight.  What  I  mean  to  inculcate  is  not  blind 
confidence  in  the  victory  of  truth  and  justice,  as  if  they 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  57 

intended  actually  to  appear  on  earth  to  work  for  you, 
instead  of  your  working  for  them  :  I  mean  to  say  that, 
under  all  circumstances,  falsity,  untruth,  injustice,  and 
all  immoral  means,  however  cunningly  they  maybe  de- 
vised, are  the  most  dangerous  allies.  Whoever  as- 
sociates with  them  will  be  sure  to  go  to  wreck  and 
ruin.  The  way  to  success,  to  a  final  and  solid  success 
is  only  that  steep  and  thorny  path  on  which  virtue  led 
the  Greek  hero  to  Olympus.  Because  strait  is  the  gate, 
and  narrow  is  the  way  which  leadeth  unto  life  and  few 
there  be  that  find  it. 


THE  UNITY  OF  TRUTH. 


TRUTH,  thou  art  but  one.  Thou  mayest  appear  to 
us  now  stern  and  now  mild,  yet  thou  remainest  always 
the  same.  Thou  blessest  him  that  loves  thee,  thou 
revealest  thy  nature  to  those  that  seek  thee,  thou 
hidest  thy  countenance  from  him  that  disregards  thee, 
and  thou  punishest  him  that  hateth  thee.  But  whether 
it  is  life  or  death  thou  givest,  whether  thy  dispensations 
are  curses  or  blessings,  thou  remainest  always  the  same, 
thou  art  never  in  contradiction  with  thyself ;  thy  curses 
affirm  thy  blessings,  and  thy  rewards  show  the  justice 
of  thy  punishments.  Thou  art  one  from  eternity  to 
eternity;  and  there  is  no  second  truth  beside  thee. 

There  was  a  strange  superstition  among  the  learned 
of  the  middle  ages.  The  Schoolmen  believed  in  the 
duality  of  truth.  Something  might  be  true,  they  main- 
tained, in  philosophy,  which  was  not  true  in  theology  ; 
a  religious  truth  might  be  true  so  far  as  religion  was  con- 
cerned, but  it  might  be  wrong  in  the  province  of  sci- 
ence, and  vice  versa  a  scientific  truth  might  be  an 
error  in  the  province  of  religion. 

The  Nation  of  August  7th,  1890,  contains  a  criti- 
cism by  an  able  pen  of  the  aim  which  is  pursued  by 
The  Open  Court.  But  the  criticism  is  written  from 
the  standpoint  that  the  duality  of  truth  is  a  matter  of 
course  ;  whereas  it  is  merely  a  modernised  reminis- 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  59 

cence  of  the  scholastic  doctrine  that  that  which  is  true 
in  science  will  not  be  true  in  religion. 
We  are  told  : 

"The  profession  of  The  Open  Court  is  to  make  an  'effort  to 
conciliate  religion  with  science.'  Is  thiswise?  Is  it  not  an  en- 
deavor to  reach  a  foredetermined  conclusion  ?  .  .  .  Does  not  such 
a  struggle  imply  a  defect  of  intellectual  integrity  and  tend  to  un- 
dermine the  whole  moral  health  ?  .  .  .  Religion,  to  be  true  to  itself, 
should  demand  the  unconditional  surrender  of  free-thinking.  Sci- 
ence, true  to  itself,  cannot  listen  to  such  a  demand  for  an  instant. 
.  .  .  Why  should  not  religion  and  science  seek  each  a  self-devel- 
opment in  its  own  interest  ?" 

It  is  true  enough  that  many  religious  doctrines 
stand  in  flat  contradiction  to  certain  propositions  that 
have  been  firmly  established  by  science ;  and  the 
churches  that  proclaim  and  teach  these  doctrines  do 
not  even  think  of  changing  them.  There  are  dogmas 
that  defy  all  rules  of  sound  logic,  and  yet  they  are  re- 
tained ;  they  are  cherished  as  if  they  were  sacred 
truth.  But  church  doctrines  and  dogmas  are  not 
religion  ;  church  doctrines  and  dogmas  are  traditions. 
They  may  contain  many  good  things  but  they  may 
also  contain  errors,  and  it  is  our  holy  and  religious 
duty  to  examine  them,  to  winnow  them  so  as  to  sepa- 
rate the  good  wheat  from  the  useless  chaff. 

Let  us  obey  the  rule  of  the  apostle,  to  hold  fast 
only  that  and  all  that  which  is  good.  And  what  is 
good  ?  Let  us  inquire  of  Truth  for  an  answer.  That 
is  good  which  agrees  with  truth.  Good  is  not  that 
which  pleases  your  fancy,  however  lofty  and  noble 
your  imagination,  and  however  better,  grander,  or 
sweeter  than  the  stern  facts  of  reality  you  may  deem 
it  to  be.  You  will  find  that  in  the  end  all  things  that 
appear  good,  but  are  not  in  accord  with  truth,  are 
elusive  :  they  will  be  discovered  to  be  bad  ;  usually 


60  HOMILIES  <>/•'  SCIENCE. 

they  are  worse  than  those  things  which  are  bad  and 
appear  so  to  us  at  first  sight. 

What  is  religion  ?  Religion  is  our  inmost  self ;  it 
is  the  sum  total  of  all  our  knowledge  applied  to  con- 
duct. It  is  the  highest  ideal  of  our  aspirations,  in 
obedience  to  which  we  undertake  to  build  our  lives. 
Religion  in  one  word  is  truth  itself.  Religion  is  dif- 
ferent from  science  in  so  far  as  it  is  more  than  scien- 
tific truth;  it  is  applied  truth.  Religion  does  not  con- 
sist of  dogmas,  nor  does  the  Religion  of  Science  consist 
of  scientific  formulas.  Scientific  formulas,  if  not  applied 
to  a  moral  purpose,  are  dead  letters  to  religion,  for 
religion  is  not  a  formulation  of  truth,  but  it  is  living 
the  truth.  True  religion  is,  and  all  religion  ought  to 
be  what  Christ  said  of  himself  and  of  his  mission, 
"the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life." 

If  a  teacher  tells  his  pupil  never  to  be  satisfied  with 
his  work  until  the  result  when  examined  agrees  with 
the  requirements,  and  to  work  his  examples  over  until 
they  come  out  right ;  is  that  a  predetermined  conclu- 
sion ?  In  a  certain  sense  it  is,  but  not  in  the  sense 
our  critic  proposes.  If  objection  is  made  to  a  duality 
of  truth,  and  if  it  is  maintained  that  religion  and  scien- 
tific truth  cannot  contradict  each  other,  is  that  an 
effort  which  "  implies  a  defect  of  intellectual  integrity 
and  tends  to  undermine  the  whole  moral  health"? 
Just  the  contrary  ;  it  is  the  sole  basis  of  intellectual 
integrity,  it  is  the  indispensable  condition  of  all  moral 
health. 

"Religion  to  be  true  to  itself  should  demand," 
and  that  religion  which  The  Open  Court  proposes, 
does  demand  not  "an  unconditional  surrender  of  free- 
thinking  "  or  of  free  enquiry,  but  an  unconditional  de- 
votion to  truth.  Does  science  demand  free-thinking? 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  61 

Perhaps  the  answer  may  be  "yes,"  and  there  can  be 
no  objection  provided  that  free-thinking  means  free 
enquiry  and  the  absence  of  all  compulsion.  But  the 
free-thinking  that  is  demanded  by  science  means  at  the 
same  time  an  absolute  obedience  to  the  laws  of  thought. 
The  same  free-thinking,  which  is  at  the  same  time 
an  unconditional  surrender  to  truth,  is  the  cardinal 
demand  of  religion.  The  great  reformer  Martin  Luther 
called  it  the  freedom  of  conscience  and  considered  it 
as  the  most  precious  prerogative  of  a  Christian. 

The  Open  Court  does  not  propose  to  conciliate 
science  with  certain  Christian  or  Mosaic  or  Buddhistic 
doctrines.  This  would  be  absurd  and  such  an  under- 
taking would  justly  deserve  a  severe  criticism,  for  it 
would  be  truly  a  predetermined  conclusion  in  the 
sense  that  our  critic  intends.  It  would  "  imply  a  defect 
of  intellectual  integrity  and  undermine  the  moral 
health."  Autocracy  and  individualism  are  not  recon- 
cilable, but  socialism  and  individualism  are  reconcil- 
able. Order  and  liberty  are  not  such  deadly  enemies 
as  may  appear  at  first  sight.  Superstition  and  science 
are  irreconcilable,  but  religion  and  science  are  not 
irreconcilable.  Indeed,  the  history  of  religious  progress 
js  a  constant  conciliation  between  science  and  religion. 

Religion  and  science,  it  is  maintained,  must  "seek 
each  a  self-development  in  its  own  interest."  Cer- 
tainly it  must,  but  this  does  not  prevent  that  which 
we  deem  to  be  religious  truth  being  constantly  ex- 
amined before  the  tribunal  of  science,  and  that 
which  we  deem  to  be  scientific  truth  being  con- 
stantly referred  to  religion.  Our  critic  seems  to  have 
no  objection  to  religion  and  science  coming  into  accord, 
but  he  proposes  to  wait  until  they  approach  comple- 
tion. If  this  maxim  were  universally  adopted,  there 


f)2  IfOMII.IES  01-'  SCIENCE. 

would  be  no  progress  in  the  development  of  religion. 
Is  not  "completion  "  a  very  relative  state?  Waiting 
for  completion  would  be  about  equivalent  to  stopping 
all  social  .reform  until  mankind  has  reached  the  mil- 
lennium. Every  social  reform  is  a  step  onward  along 
the  path  to  the  millennium,  and  every  conciliation  be- 
tween science  and  religion  is  a  step  onward  in  the 
revelation  of  living  truth. 

The  religion  of  the  middle  ages  was  a  religion  of 
dualism,  it  proposed  the  duality  of  truth.  The  religion 
of  the  future  will  be  a  religion  of  Monism  ;  and  what 
means  Monism?  Monism  means  unity  of  truth.  Truth 
is  invincible.  It  never  contradicts  itself,  for  there  is 
but  one  truth  and  that  one  truth  is  eternal. 


LIVING  THE  TRUTH. 


THEY  are  but  few  who  do  the  thinking  of  mankind, 
and  the  great  masses  are  led  by  the  few  sometimes 
in  the  right,  sometimes  in  the  wrong  direction.  It 
matters  little  whether  this  is  to  be  regretted  or  not, 
it  remains  a  fact  and  must  be  faced.  Yet  this  state 
of  things  makes  every  independent  thinker  the  more 
valuable.  Every  man  who  is  an  independent  thinker 
is  a  power  in  his  sphere,  and  will  contribute  a  share 
to  the  further  evolution  of  thought  in  humanity. 

The  intellectual  battles  of  mankind  are  mostly 
fought  out  by  a  few  leaders,  and  the  great  mass  is 
ready  to  follow  those  who  have  been  successful  in  the 
fight.  Nevertheless  we  must  recognise  that  thought 
has  increased  ;  and  there  are  many  unmistakable  symp- 
tDms  that  humanity  is  making  progress  at  an  increas- 
ing ratio.  This  lets  us  hope  that  the  misery  unneces- 
sarily and  foolishly  produced  by  improvidence  or  ignor- 
ance will  be  lessened  and  that  knowledge  will  spread 
together  with  a  general  good-will  among  men.  This 
is  the  aim  of  thought,  nay  it  is  its  necessary  result. 

Thought  is  not  mere  sport.  Thought  is  the  most 
important,  the  most  practical,  the  most  indispensable 
activity  of  man.  Thought  is  the  savior  of  mankind, . 
and  the  salvation  of  man  is  the  goal  of  the  aspirations 
of  those  who  struggle  against  superstition  and  indiffer- 
ence. 


64  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  indifference  is  worse 
than  superstition.  I  am  always  glad  to  meet  a  think- 
ing man  who  is  earnest  in  his  defense  of  some  old 
creed,  if  he  is  only  honest.  However  much  I  may 
differ  from  his  views  I  shall  always  treat  him  with  the 
respect  due  to  sincerity.  Difference  of  opinion  must 
never  induce  us  to  set  aside  justice  ;  and  after  all  a 
man  who  is  sincere  and  has  an  independent  convic- 
tion, even  though  his  conviction  be  utterly  wrong, 
does  a  greater  service  to  progress  than  the  indifferent 
man  who  will  always  belong  to  that  party  which  hap- 
pens to  be  the  fashion  of  the  day.  Indifference  more 
than  error  hinders  progress. 

I  see  the  thinkers  of  mankind,  few  though  they  are, 
divided  into  two  camps.  The  champions  of  the  one 
trust  in  progress  and  work  for  constant  amelioration  ; 
the  champions  of  the  other  believe  that  innovations 
are  extremely  dangerous,  and  the  best  thing  for  hu- 
manity would  be  to  remain  stationary.  Those  of 
the  latter  class  will  concede  perhaps  that  in  the  do- 
main of  industry  and  in  the  sciences  progress  must 
be  made,  but  they  do  not  believe  in  the  progress  of 
religion.  Their  religion  is  to  them  perfection,  it  re- 
presents in  their  minds  absolute  truth,  and  progress  of 
absolute  truth,  progress  of  something  that  is  already 
perfection,  is,  as  a  matter  of  course,  gilding  refined 
gold. 

The  battle  waxes  hot  between  the  two  parties,  the 
former  is  strong  through  its  alliance  with  scientific 
aspirations,  but  the  latter  is  still  in  the  majority.  It 
is  in  possession  of  the  great  mass  of  indifferent  people  ; 
and  the  champions  of  progress  may  often  become  de- 
spondent so  as  to  give  up  all  hope  of  a  final  victory. 
Ignorance  seems  stronger  than  knowledge  and  folly 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  65 

more  powerful  than  wisdom.  In  a  moment  of  such 
despair  Schiller  is  said  to  have  exclaimed  :  "Against 
stupidity  fight  even  Gods  in  vain." 

Who  among  us  when  confronted  with  unconquer- 
able superstitions,  has  not  had  such  sentiments  at  one 
moment  of  his  life  or  another?  And  now  I  ask,  can  we 
know  which  party  in  the  end  will  be  victorious? 
Can  we  know  the  means  by  which  alone  a  victory  is 
to  be  achieved?  Let  me  in  a  few  words  indicate  the 
answer  which  I  trust  is  very  simple  in  the  general  plan 
of  its  main  idea,  and  yet  so  very  complex  in  its  ap- 
plication that  we  could  philosophize  on  the  subject  as 
long  as  we  live.  Indeed,  mankind  does  philosophize 
on  the  subject  and  has  never  as  yet  got  tired  of  it. 
And  I  suppose  it  never  will,  for  here  lies  the  object  of 
all  science,  of  all  knowledge,  of  all  philosophy. 

What* will  conquer  in  the  end?  Truth  will  con- 
quer in  the  end.  By  what  means  will  truth  conquer? 
By  being  truth,  or  in  other  words  by  morality.  That 
party  will  conquer,  be  it  ever  so  weak  in  numbers,  be 
it  ever  so  badly  represented,  that  is  one  with  truth. 
But  it  is  not  sufficient  merely  to  know  the  truth.  Truth 
must  be  lived. 

Only  by  living  the  truth  shall  we  be  able  to  con- 
quer the  world.  Therefore  it  is  necessary  to  recog- 
nize the  all-importance  of  morality.  The  ethical  prob- 
lem (as  I  have  often  said  on  other  occasions')  is  the 
burning  question  of  the  day.  To  know  the  truth,  to 
preach  the  truth,  and  also  to  denounce  the  untruth  of 
superstitions  is  very  important;  but  it  is  more  im- 
portant to  live  the  truth. 

If  you  have  two  men,  one  of  whom  knows  the 
truth  but  does  not  live  it,  while  the  other  lives  the 
truth  but  does  not  know  it ;  who  must  be  regarded  as 


66  IfOMII.IES  (>/•'  SCIENCE. 

nearer  the  truth  ?  Surely  he  who  ignorant  of  the  truth 
lives  it,  and  not  he  who  knowing  the  truth  does  not. 

What  is  truth  ?  Truth  is  agreement  with  the  facts 
of  reality.  Truth  accordingly  is  not  a  mere  negation 
of  untruth,  not  a  mere  rejection  of  superstitions.  Truth 
is  positive,  it  is  the  correct  recognition  of  facts  as  well 
as  of  the  laws  that  live  in  the  facts  and  have  been  ab- 
stracted therefrom  by  science.  Morality  is  the  agree- 
ment of  our  actions  with  truth,  and  the  most  important 
truths  for  the  regulation  of  men's  actions  are  the  laws 
which  rule  the  relations  between  man  and  man  form- 
ing the  conditions  of  human  society. 

The  strength  of  the  many  organisations  that  still 
hold  to  antiquated  superstitions  lies  in  the  fact  that 
after  all  they  try  their  best  to  obey  the  moral  laws. 
And  the  weakness  of  many  free-thinking  persons  as 
well  as  organisations,  lies  in  their  neglect -of  ethics, 
They  do  not  feel  the  urgency  of  demanding  strictness 
in  morals  ;  they  are  perhaps  not  exactly  immoral  but 
they  are  indifferent  about  the  claims  of  morality. 

The  moral  laws  have  been  formulated  by  Religion 
first  in  mythological  expressions  ;  but  the  mythology 
of  Religion  is  slowly  changing  into  a  scientific  concep- 
tion of  facts.  Mythology  is  fiction,  it  preaches  the 
truth  in  parables.  Nevertheless  it  contains  actual 
truth.  And  the  religious  parables  are  not  less  true, 
they  are  more  true  than  the  unthinking  believers  im- 
agine. The  truth  of  these  parables  is  grander,  subimer, 
higher  than  the  similes  in  which  they  are  expressed. 

Here  lies  the  secret  of  success.  The  church  has 
grown  into  existence  and  has  attained  its  power  be- 
cause it  was  the  ethical  teacher  of  mankind  in  the 
past.  On  the  one  hand  it  appears  that  the  church  re- 
fuses to  progress,  and  on  the  other  hand  progressive 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  67 

thought  has  heretofore  too  much  neglected  to  become 
practical  or  in  other  words  to  push  the  moral  applica- 
tions of  truth. 

We  stand  now  before  a  crisis :  Either  the  churches 
will  reform ;  they  will  cease  to  believe  in  supersti- 
tions ;  they  will  acknowledge  truth  and  the  correctness 
of  the  scientific  methods  of  reaching  truth;  in  one 
word  they  will  become  secular  institutions,  institutions 
adapted  to  the  moral  wants  of  the  world  we  live  in  ; 
in  which  case  they  will  remain  the  ethical  teachers  of 
mankind;  or  those  institutions  which  represent  pro- 
gressive thought  and  have  recognized  truth  and  the 
rational  means  of  reaching  truth,  will  more  and  more 
inculcate  the  practical  applications  of  truth ;  and  if 
they  do,  they  will  become  the  moral  teachers  of  man- 
kind. 

Truth  must  conquer  in  the  end;  but  knowing  the 
truth  is  not  as  yet  sufficient ;  it  is  living  the  truth  which 
will  gain  the  victory.- 


THANKSGIVING-DAY. 


As  THE  sun  rises  to-day  from  the  depths  of  the  At- 
lantic, he  beholds  a  great  and  prosperous  nation  cele- 
brating one  of  the  most  beautiful  festivals  of  the  year. 
It  is  the  day  of  giving  thanks  for  all  the  bounties  which 
Nature,  our  common  mother,  has  showered  upon  us 
in  the  year  gone  by.  It  is  the  day  of  giving  thanks 
for  the  rich  harvest  now  being  gathered  into  the  barns 
of  the  farmer,  and  which  we  who  are  not  farmers, 
shall  none  the  less  enjoy.  For  all  of  us,  the  merchant 
and  the  artisan,  the  manufacturer  and  the  banker, 
the  artist  and  the  scholar,  the  soldier  and  the  sailor, 
all  of  us  who  make  an  honest  living,  depend  ulti- 
mately on  the  blessings  that  Nature  bestows  upon 
us,  the  fruits  that  grow  in  the  fields,  and  the  meat  that 
she  provides. 

It  is  true  that  we  must  work  for  it.  In  the  sweat  of 
our  face  we  must  eat  our  bread.  But  all  our  labor 
would  be  in  vain  if  Nature  ceased  to  yield  the  harvest 
which  in  abundance  she  annually  offers. 

*          * 

Considering  the  state  of  affairs  in  this  light,  we 
must  have  a  feeling  of  pride  and  at  the  same  time  of 
modesty.  Of  pride,  because  our  prosperity,  our  prop- 
erty, our  life  with  all  its  future  hopes,  are  the  result  of 
our  own  work  ;  what  we  are  is  the  product  of  our  own 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  69 

and  our  forefathers'  endeavors.  Of  modesty,  because 
all  our  labor  would  be  in  vain  if  that  omnipotent  power 
of  natural  forces  did  not  continually  carry  along  upon 
its  mighty  billows  of  life  the  courageous  boats  of  think- 
ing beings. 

We  must  learn  to  know,  that  what  we  are,  we  are 
through  nature  only ;  for  we  ourselves  are  but  parts  of 
that  great  power  in  which  we  live  and  move  and  have 
our  being. 

Our  fathers  in  their  gratitude  called  that  power  of 
omnipotent  Nature  God,  and  Christ  taught  us  to  re- 
vere it  in  child-like  love  as  a  Father.  If  we  have  ceased 
to  believe  in  a  humanized  Deity,  if  we  no  longer  adopt 
the  idea  of  a  personal  God,  we  must  not  forget  that 
there  is  a  great  truth  in  the  words  of  the  psalmist  who 
sings  : 

Except  the  Lord  build  the  house,  they  labor  in  vain  that  build 
it  ;  except  the  Lord  keep  the  city,  the  watchman  vvaketh  but  in 
vain. 

It  is  vain  for  you  to  rise  up  early,  to  sit  up  late,  to  eat  the 
bread  of  sorrows  :  for  so  he  giveth  his  beloved  sleep. 

It  is  a  noble  feature  in  man's  nature  that  prompts 
him  to  celebrate  great  events  and  to  remember  the 
momentous  days  of  his  existence.  But  our  feasting 
must  not  consist  of  good  eating  and  drinking  alone. 
Our  festivals  must  be  a  consecration  of  our  life.  Festi- 
vals, if  celebrated  in  a  truly  humane  spirit,  will  elevate 
man's  actions  by  thought  and  ennoble  his  work  by  re- 
flection. 

"  'Tis  that  alone  which  makes  mankind — 

And  'tis  the  purpose  of  man's  reason 
That  he  consider  in  his  mind 
His  handiwork  of  every  season." 

You  who  are  happy,  you  who  look  back  upon  a  year 
that  has  yielded  its  harvest,  rejoice  in  the  blessings  of 


7o  HO  Ml  LIES  OF  SCI  EN  (.'I  . 

Nature,  rejoice  in  the  health  of  life,  rejoice  that  you 
behold  this  day  !  Be  thankful  for  the  bounties  you 
have  received  and  close  not  the  doors  of  charity  to 
the  needy  and  the  poor  who  are  less  fortunate  than 
yourselves  ! 

The  unfortunate,  the  sick,  the  poor  are  invited  to 
join  in  the  general  joy  and  to  rejoice  in  the  general 
prosperity  of  our  country,  in  the  glorious  growth  of 
our  nation,  and  in  the  noticeable  progress  of  all  man- 
kind which  apparently  leads  more  and  more  to  higher 
and  purer  ideals  of  the  universal  brotherhood  of  man. 

Those  who  are  prosperous  will  celebrate  this  sacred 
day  with  a  grateful  mind,  sympathetic  towards  those 
who  are  stricken  with  the  many  ills  that  flesh  is  heir 
to.  Let  us  remember  our  own  weakness,  let  us  con- 
sider that  what  we  are  we  are  not  of  ourselves.  Thus 
we  shall  learn  the  wisdom  of  modesty  that  teaches  us 
to  look  upon  the  forlorn  and  shipwrecked  as  brothers, 
so  that  we  shall  lend  them  a  helping  hand.  Let  us 
assist  the  fallen  and  downtrodden  in  the  right  spirit, 
not  in  the  arrogance  of  our  own  merits,  of  our  own 
good  luck  and  fortune,  but  in  the  fraternal  love  of  a 
pure-minded  and  heartfelt  kindness. 

* 

Blessed  be  the  sun  that  shines  upon  this  day,  and 
blessed  be  his  return  in  all  future  years.  Blessed  be 
the  country  that  yields  us  the  fruit  upon  which  we 
live,  and  blessed  be  that  great  nation  that  flourishes 
in  this  wonderful  land  of  liberty.  May  the  highest 
ideals  we  cherish,  be  realized  in  her  destinies  ! 


CHRISTMAS. 


THE  Christmas  bells  will  soon  chime  and  with  their 
harmonious  peals  they  will  bring  joy  and  merriment 
into  every  household.  There  is  a  secret  charm  in  the 
celebration  of  this  holy  festival.  It  is  wonderful  what 
sacred  gladness  attaches  to  the  sight  of  the  glorious 
tree  that  remains  green  in  winter-time,  when  it  is 
decked  with  glittering  ornaments  and  its  many  can- 
dles shed  their  joyous  light  upon  the  circles  of  frolick- 
ing children  with  roseate  cheeks  and  beaming  eyes  ! 

What  is  the  mystery  of  this  jubilant  feast,  and  how 
is  it  possible  that  wherever  it  has  been  introduced, 
there  it  will  remain  as  the  dearest  and  most  cherished 
of  all  holidays  ? 

First  Christmas  was  celebrated  as  Yule-tide  by  the 
old  Teutons,  especially  by  the  most  northern  tribes  of 
the  great  Teutonic  family,  the  Norsemen  and  the  Sax- 
ons, as  the  return  of  the  sun,  as  salvation  in  midst  of 
anxieties  and  troubles,  as  the  victory  of  light  over 
darkness.  As  many  other  feasts  so  Christmas,  and 
Christmas,  it  seems,  more  than  others,  is  a  festival  of 
natural  religion.  Then  the  Christians  adopted  it  and 
very  appropriately  selected  it  as  the  memorial  day  of 
the  birth  of  the  Saviour.  Now  it  is  celebrated  by  Chris- 
tians and  Pagans,  by  Jews  and  Gentiles,  by  all  who 
came  in  contact  with  Saxons  or  Germans,  or  their 
kindred  in  the  North.  No  one  can  withdraw  from  the 


72  HOMILIES  OF  SCI I:\C1-.. 

sacred  spell  that  the  worship  of  Nature  exercises 
even  now  upon  our  minds.  Christians  like  to  forget 
that  their  Christmas  tree  is  an  old  pagan  symbol  of 
the  world.  It  is  Ygdrasil,  under  the  branches  of  which 
the  three  norns  of  the  present,  the  past,  and  the  fu- 
ture are  sitting,  lisping  runes  and  weaving  the  fates 
of  the  Universe.  There  is  Urd's  well  at  the  roots  of 
the  holy  tree  and  its  water  is  sacred.  The  norns 
spray  the  water  upon  the  branches  of  Ygdrasil  which 
sinks  down  into  our  valleys  as  dew.  This  keeps  the 
tree  ever  green  and  strong. 

The  festive  Yule  tide  has  been  a  holy  season  to  our 
Teutonic  ancestors  since  times  immemorial;  since  they 
settled  in  their  northern  homes  in  Europe,  which  their 
descendants,  the  Norwegians,  the  Danes,  the  Dutch, 
the  English,  and  the  Germans  still  inhabit.  The  drear- 
iest days  of  the  year,  when  darkness  and  frost  with 
snow  and  ice  were  most  oppressive,  became  by  reac- 
tion as  it  were  the  most  joyful  time. 

In  the  northern  parts  of  Norway  the  sun  disap- 
pears entirely  towards  the  close  of  December,  and 
when  after  an  absence  of  two  nights  or  more  it  rose 
for  a  short  time  on  the  horizon,  it  was  saluted  with 
bonfires  lit  with  yule-logs,  with  festive  processions, 
with  fir-trees  illuminated  with  candles,  with  merry- 
making and  family  feasts  of  all  kinds. 

The  mistletoe  which  grows  on  holy  oak-trees  and 
remains  green  in  winter-time,  whose  seed  was  sup- 
posed to  have  fallen  from  heaven,  was  the  sun- god 
Baldur's  sacred  plant.  With  mistletoe  therefore  the 
houses  were  decorated,  and  the  greeting  under  the 
mistletoe  was  all  love  and  friendship  in  the  name  of 
Odin's  fairest  and  most  righteous  son.  Baldur  had 
been  killed  by  the  dark  and  gloomy  Hredur,  but  he 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  73 

was  restored  to  life  again.  With  Baldur  all  nature  re- 
ceived new  life,  and  all  mankind  rejoiced  in  him. 

When  Christianity  was  introduced,  how  could  a 
better  day  for  the  celebration  of  Christ's  nativity  be 
selected  than  Baldur's  festive  day.  The  birthday  of 
Jesus  was  not  celebrated  in  the  early  church,  and 
there  is  not  even  the  faintest  legendary  account  re- 
garding its  date.  Our  Teutonic  ancestors  succeeded 
in  settling  this  problem  in  favor  of  their  dear  Yule-tide 
by  a  quotation  from  the  scriptures.  John  the  Baptist 
says  as  to  his  relation  to  Christ :  "He  must  increase 
but  I  must  decrease."  (John  iii.  30.)  Accordingly, 
St.  John's  day  was  fixed  upon  the  24th  of  June  when 
the  days  begin  to  decrease,  and  Christ's  upon  25th  <*f 
December  when  the  days  begin  to  increase  again. 

Yule-tide  lost  none  of  its  charms  when  it  was 
changed  into  Christmas.  On  the  contrary,  the  sacred 
joys  Weihnacht  gained  in  spiritual  depth  and  import- 
ance, preserving  all  the  while  the  old  pagan  ceremon- 
ies that  symbolize  the  immortality  of  light  and  life. 

Christmas  is  not  a  feast  of  any  special  creed  or  na- 
tionality. The  custom  of  celebrating  it  has  spread 
from  the  Teutonic  nations  to  France,  and  Spain,  and 
Italy,  and  Ireland,  and  over  the  whole  world.  It  is 
now  the  family  feast  of  almost  all  mankind  whether 
they  believe  in  Jesus  as  their  saviour  or  not. 

We  keep  the  Christmas  season  as  a  dear  and  sacred 
time  which  in  the  midst  of  a  dreary  winter  night  re- 
minds us  of  the  sun's  return.  Darkness  cannot  con- 
quer light,  and  death  cannot  conquer  life.  Christmas 
teaches  us  to  bear  up  bravely  in  troubles,  to  keep  up 
hope  in  misfortunes,  to  preserve  the  courage  of  life  in 
the  midst  of  struggles  of  cares  and  worries,  and  to 
spread  joy  around  us  so  far  as  it  is  in  our  power. 


74 

There  are  times  so  dreary  that  in  our  anxiety  we 
see  no  hope  but  death.  There  are  days  so  Bleak  and 
wintery  that  we  begin  to  despair,  and  encumbered 
with  cares  we  cry,  "The  evil  is  stronger  than  the 
good  in  this  world,  and  the  power  of  darkness  quenches 
the  glory  of  light."  The  days  become  shorter  and 
shorter.  The  nights  become  longer  and  longer.  A 
general  corruption  is  prevailing  and  increasing ;  the 
moral  sense  is  growing  debased  and  retrogression 
seems  all  but  universal. 

O  ye  of  little  faith  !  Be  of  good  cheer,  and  in  the 
midst  of  all  your  trouble  and  worry  celebrate  a  joyous 
Christmas.  For  Christmas  is  the  commemoration  of  the 
hfcily  morn  that  greets  us  after  the  longest  night.  It 
reminds  us  of  the  undying  hope,  that  light  and  life  are 
eternal.  It  is  true  that  life  is  a  world  of  woe,  full  of 
toil  and  of  pain.  Nevertheless,  there  is  a  saviour  born 
into  the  world ;  and  this  saviour  is  the  son  of  man.  The 
ideal  son  of  man  lies  as  yet  in  the  cradle.  But  we  know 
that  he  will  grow  ;  he  will  rescue  the  world  from  those 
troubles  which  are  caused  by  folly  and  crime ;  he  will 
elevate  mankind  through  purity  and  justice  ;  and  he 
will  consecrate  life  and  the  struggle  for  life  through 
the  noble  aims  which  more  and  more  will  become  con- 
scious ideals  in  the  minds  of  men. 


REVELATION. 


IN  my  childhood  I  was  told  that  there  were  two 
kinds  of  divine  revelation.  God  had  revealed  him- 
self (i)  in  Nature,  and  (2)  in  the  Scriptures.  Neither 
revelation  was  easy  to  decipher  and  interpret,  but  God 
always  aids  the  endeavors  of  the  upright,  and  the 
one  revelation  would  assist  us  in  understanding  the 
other. 

There  is,  too,  according  to  the  catechisms,  a  third 
kind  of  revelation  :  the  Conscience  of  Man.  Man  has 
an  instinctive  recognition  of  that  which  is  right  and 
that  which  is  wrong,  and  this  instinct  is  sometimes 
a  most  wonderful  and  accurate  guide,  although  there 
are  many  cases  in  which  it  leads  astray.  Conscience, 
we  are  told,  is  the  voice  of  God,  and  the  behests 
of  conscience  we  are  bound  to  obey,  although  we 
must  be  on  our  guard  lest  conscience  be  perverted  by 
errors  and  superstitions. 

These  three  revelations  of  God  must  be  one  and 
the  same.  If  they  are  true  and  reliable  they  must 
agree,  and  wherever  they  do  not  agree  our  interpre- 
tation of  one  of  them,  or  of  two,  or  of  all  them,  is 
wrong.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  we  find  that  the  three 
conflict,  and  we  must  accordingly  investigate  which  of 
the  three  is  the  most  reliable. 

The  dogmatic  Christian  claims  that  the  Bible  is 
the  most  reliable  ;  and  in  all  religious  matters  the 


76  1/OMIUES  OF  SCIENCE. 

Bible  must  be  considered  as  the  ultimate  authority. 
Yet,  whatever  precious  doctrines  the  Bible  may  con- 
tain, it  can  be  considered  as  divine  only  in  so  far  as 
it  is  true,  and  God  cannot  proclaim  one  truth  in  na- 
ture, and  another  truth  in  the  Scriptures.  He  cannot 
be  one  God  to  all  the  world,  and  another  God  to  a  few 
prophets.  God  might  reveal  himself  more  fully  to 
those  who  are  maturer  in  mind,  whose  souls  are  fur- 
ther advanced  in  moral  and  mental  growth,  for  God 
reveals  himself  to  the  extent  that  we  search  for  him, 
and  are  able  to  comprehend  the  truth.  Yet  the  two 
revelations  should  never  be  contradictory.  They  might 
be  different  in  degree,  but  not  in  kind. 

Of  the  three  divine  revelations  there  is  but  one  that 
is  consistent,  one  that  never  contradicts  itself,  that 
.has  remained  unchanged,  and  will  remain  so  forever. 
That  is  the  revelation  of  God  in  Nature.  There  is 
order  in  nature,  and  law  rules  supreme.  All  natural 
phenomena  are  in  all  their  glorious  variety  so  many 
instances  of  the  oneness  that  pervades  nature,  and 
among  all  the  natural  phenomena,  the  most  wonderful 
revelation  of  God  appears  in  man  ;  and  in  that  which 
is  most  human  in  man,  in  language,  and  in  thought. 
Every  truth  is  divine,  every  truth  is  a  revelation,  and 
every  scripture  thus  inspired  will  prove  useful  in  work- 
ing out  righteousness.  Therefore  we  agree  with  the 
apostle  when  he  says  : 

Every  scripture  inspired  of  God  is  also  profitable  for  teaching, 
for  reproof,  for  correction,  for  instruction,  which  is  in  righteous- 
ness :  that  the  man  of  God  may  be  complete,  furnished  completely 
unto  every  good  work.-n.  THIM.,  3,  16.  17. 

It  is  not  the  Bible  alone  which  is  a  revelation  of 
God,  but  the  Vedas,  the  Zendavesta,  Homer,  the 
Koran,  the  Edda ;  Shakespeare,  and  Goethe ;  and 


HOMfLfES  OF  SCIENCE.  77 

Kant  and  Darwin,  and  all  the  scientists.  All  the 
scriptures,  all  the  literatures  of  all  people  so  far  as 
they  contain  thoughts  that  are  noble  and  elevating, 
and  beautiful  and  true — they  are  all  revelations  of 
God.  In  so  far  as  a  book  contains  errors  it  is  not  de- 
vine,  it  is  no  revelation  of  God,  whether  it  be  incor- 
porated in  the  biblical  canon  or  not. 

The  Bible  was  considered  by  the  old  Hebrews  in 
this  light,  for  the  Old  Testament  is  nothing  but  a 
collection  of  the  Hebrew  literature  up  to  a  certain 
date.  Had  Goethe  lived  among  the  Jews  at  the  time 
of  David,  and  had  the  anachronism  been  possible 
that  he  had  written  his  Faust  at  that  time;  Goethe's 
Faust  would  be  one  of  the  canonical  books  in  the 
Bible  of  to-day. 

Conscience,  it  is  true,  is  a  revelation  of  God;  but 
what  is  conscience  but  the  development  of  the  ethical 
instinct  in  man. 

Experience  has  taught  man  that  certain  acts  that 
promise  to  be  pleasant  at  first,  will  cause  regret  after- 
wards; that  the.  injury  done  to  others  will  not  bring 
to  him  the  benefit  he  expected,  but  may  even  entail 
harm  which  he  never  thought  of.  Experience  will 
teach  him  that  self-denial  and  unflinching  love  of  truth, 
even  where  they  appear  very  obnoxious,  will  in  the 
end  prove  to  be  the  best.  Conscience  accordingly  is 
ultimately  based  upon  .experience,  not  only  of  our- 
selves, but  of  parents  and  teachers.  It  is  partly  an 
inherited  tendency ;  partly  it  is  based  upon  all  the  re- 
membrances of  our  life  from  earliest  childhood.  The 
examples  given  us  by  beloved  and  respected  persons, 
.by  our  elders  and  by  our  friends,  are  written  in  our 
souls  and  will  consciously  and  unconsciously  influence 
our  actions.  It  is  neither  uncommon  nor  strange  that 


78  JfOM/I.II:  V  OF  SCIENCK. 

the  voice  of  man's  conscience  is  often  perverted,  by 
bad  examples  and  insufficient  or  wrong  instruction.  As 
the  knowledge  of  the  medicine  man  is  the  rude  be- 
ginning of  science;  so  is  conscience  a  natural  product 
which  needs  refinement  and  culture  by  methodical 
education. 

The  only  direct  and  reliable  revelation  of  God  is 
to  be  found  in  the  facts  of  nature  ;  and  all  the  other 
revelations  in  the  Scriptures,  and  in  conscience,  are  but 
parts  of  this  one  and  only  true  revelation.  They  are 
true  only  in  so  far  as  they  agree  and  represent  this  ; 
and  the  truth  of  this  can  be  revised  again  and  again. 
The  book  of  nature  is  open  to  every  one,  and  in  the 
places  where  to-day  we  understand  its  disclosures  im- 
perfectly, we  can  hope  that  to-morrow  by  more  careful 
observations  and  closer  investigations,  we  shall  better 
comprehend  its  meaning. 

Truth  is  the  exactness  with  which  the  harmony  of 
cosmic  order  is  represented  in  the  mind  of  a  thinking 
being ;  truth  is  the  mark  of  divine  dignity  in  man, 
through  truth  and  truthfulness  we  become  children  of 
God,  and  truth  is  the  saviour  of  all  evil. 


GOD. 


WHO  is  God  and  what  is  God?  is  a  question  that 
is  raised  by  both  religious  and  irreligious  people  ; 
and  most  different  answers  are  given.  Every  one 
of  us  has  perhaps  his  own  and  peculiar  opinion 
about  God  ;  some  of  us  are  theists,  some  pantheists, 
some  atheists,  and  there  are  in  the  history  of  religion 
and  philosophy,  so  far  as  I  can  judge,  not  two  thinkers 
who  fully  agree  upon  the  subject.  Shades  of  differ- 
ences are  visible  everywhere. 

I  do  not  intend  to  discuss  any  one  of  the  many 
conceptions  of  God  ;  nor  do  I  intend  to  preach  either 
Theism,  or  Atheism,  or  Pantheism.  All  I  ask  is  the 
use  of  the  word  God  in  the  sense  of  "the  ultimate 
authority  in  conformity  to  which  man  regulates  his 
actions."  Of  those  who  allow  their  actions  to  be  de- 
termined by  the  first  impulse  that  comes  over  them, 
I  would  say,  that  whim  is  their  God.  Those  who  are 
swayed  by  egotism,  we  say  that  self  is  their  deity. 
There  are  others  whose  sole  principle  of  conduct  is 
the  pursuit  of  pleasures :  their  God  is  happiness. 
Others  still  may  possess  a  moral  ideal ;  the  endeavor 
to  be  obedient  to  their  duties  :  their  God  would  be 
duty. 

After  this  preliminary  definition  of  God,  we  put 
the  question  :  Is  there  any  way  of  ascertaining  the  na- 
ture of  God,  so  that  all  men  of  different  opinions  may 


8o  HOMILIES  ()/•'  S(7/:.\<-/:. 

be  led  to  the  recognition  of  one  God,  who  is  the  only 
true  God,  beside  whom  all  other  Gods  are  mere  idols  ? 
In  other  words,  Is  the  authority  in  conformity  with 
which  man  regulates  his  conduct  merely  his  private 
pleasure,  is  it  purely  subjective  in  its  nature,  or  is  it  a 
power  that  is  above  us,  that  is  mightier  than  our- 
selves, that  enforces  obedience  and  wrecks  those  who 
dare  to  disregard  it?  Is  that  saying  of  Antisthenes 
true,  "The  Gods  of  the  people  are  many,  but  the  God 
of  nature  is  one  ?" 

The  answer  to  this  question  is  simple,  and  can 
easily  be  deduced  from  experience.  I  cannot  at  all 
act  as  I  please,  but  have  to  regulate  my  actions  ac- 
cording to  the  facts  of  nature.  If  I  attempt  to  walk 
on  the  water  I  shall  sink ;  if  I  try  to  fly  from  the  top 
of  my  house  to  the  roof  of  my  neighbor's  house  across 
the  street,  I  shall  fall.  Natural  laws  will  not  be  altered 
on  my  account,  and  I  shall  not  be  able  to  fashion 
them  so  as  to  suit  my  purposes.  However,  I  can 
accommodate  myself  to  the  facts  of  nature,  I  can  obey 
the  natural  laws,  and  if  I  do  so,  it  will  be  to  my  own 
benefit.  The  more  intimately  man  is  acquainted  with 
nature,  the  more  perfectly  he  adapts  himself  to  the 
order  of  nature,  the  wider  will  be  his  dominion.  In 
the  measure  in  which  he  becomes  more  obedient  to 
the  authority  of  natural  laws,  the  more  powerful,  the 
more  independent,  the  more  free  will  man  be. 

Schiller  said  : 

"  Within  your  will  let  deity  reside 
And  God  descendetb  from  his  throne." 

"  [Nehmt  die  Gottheit  auf  in  euren  Willen 
Und  sie  steigt  von  ihrem  Weltenthron.] 

The  natural  laws  of  the  physical  world,  gravita- 
tion, mechanical  laws,  physical  laws,  biological  laws, 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE,  81 

may  appear  to  the  present  generation  plain  and  pal- 
pable facts  of  nature,  yet  it  took  centuries  to  sum  up 
the  facts  in  laws  and  to  state  some  of  them  in  simple 
terms.  The  men  who  succeeded  in  stating  them  in 
simple  terms  were  prophetic  geniuses,  such  as  Coper- 
nicus, Kepler,  Galileo,  Newton,  Huyghens,  Darwin, 
and  others  ;  the  results  of  their  labors  are  discoveries 
of  a  divine  inspiration,  and  are  a  revelation  of  the 
eternal  and  universal  order  of  nature. 

Besides  the  physical  laws  of  nature,  there  are  the 
sociological  laws  that  prevail  in  the  higher  kingdoms 
of  living  organisms,  and  in  the  societies  which  greater 
numbers  of  single  individuals  unite.  Every  one  of 
us  is  a  member  of  a  community ;  and  again  all  the 
communities  of  human  beings  are  closely  bound  to- 
gether, however  great  the  distance  in  which  they 
dwell,  by  certain  relations,  by  common  interests,  and 
mutual  sympathies.  These  sociological  laws  are  not 
a  product  of  well  calculated  intentions,  but  they  are 
of  a  natural  growth  ;  the  evolution  of  the  social  affairs 
of  mankind  is  deeply  rooted  in  the  conditions  of 
things. 

Now  every  fact  of  science  stated  as  a  law  has  its 
practical  side  ;  it  teaches  us  how  to  behave  in  certain 
conditions.  There  is  no  knowledge  but  it  can  be 
framed  in  the  shape  of  a  moral  command.  The  tables 
of  arithmetic  are  mere  statements  of  fact ;  but  every 
one  of  them  is  a  most  valuable  ethical  law  :  it  is  a 
guide  for  our  actions  and  a  rule  of  conduct. 

Every  child  knows  that  the  ethics  of  arithmetic 
cannot  be  changed,  it  is  a  sovereign  power  above 
us.  Yet  we  can  make  that  royal  authority  descend 
from  its  throne  by  obedience  to  its  behests,  we  can 
adapt  our  calculations  to  it,  and  thus  we  shall  partake 


82  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

of  its  sovereignty.  The  more  accurately  and  the 
purer  truth  dwells  in  our  minds,  the  more  will  our 
souls  grow  divine,  and  the  more  will  we  bear  in  our- 
selves the  image  of  God.  There  is  no  knowledge 
that  does  not  make  us  purer,  and  no  correct  applica- 
tion of  knowledge  that  does  not  make  us  more  divine. 
But  among  all  the  natural  laws  that  it  behooves  a 
man  to  know  and  to  obey,  are  the  laws  of  human  life, 
the  relations  among  human  beings,  and  the  aspira- 
tions of  human  ideals.  It  is  here  where  the  revelation 
of  God  appears  in  its  grandest,  its  most  beautiful,  and 
its  holiest  form. 

How  many  people  are  there  that  understand  that 
these  laws  are  no  less  cogent  and  irrefragable  than 
the  laws  of  the  multiplication  tables  !  How  many 
imagine  that  they  can  break  these  laws  with  impunity. 
Let  us  do  evil,  they  say,  that  good  may  come  from  it. 

The  prophet  Hosea  says  :  "  People  are  destroyed 
from  lack  of  knowledge, "  and  these  words  are  true  even 
to-day.  People  injure  themselves  and  others  mostly 
from  ignorance  and  from  ill-will,  which  is  a  necessary 
result  of  ignorance.  Would  not  the  brute  cease  to  be 
brutish  if  it  were  endowed  with  human  reason? 

Let  us  open  our  eyes  to  see  and  prepare  our  minds 
to  learn  the  ordinances  of  the  divine  authority  that 
shapes  the  destinies  of  our  life.  The  better  we  observe 
them,  the  clearer  we  understand  them,  and  the  more 
promptly  we  obey  them,  the  sweeter  will  be  the  bless- 
ings that  come  upon  our  lives,  the  greater  will  be  the 
advance  of  humanity,  and  the  nobler  will  appear  the 
divinity  of  mankind. 


DESIGN  IN  NATURE. 


AT  a  meeting  of  a  scientific  club  lately,  a  discussion 
was  held  on  the  subject  :  "Is  evolution  directed  by  in- 
telligence ? "  This  question  touches  the  very  heart 
of  religion  and  science  ;  and  we  cannot  shirk  it  if  we 
desire  to  attain  to  any  clearness  and  comprehensive- 
ness of  view  concerning  the  most  vital  problems  of 
human  existence. 

Before  we  can  answer  the  question  proposed,  we 
must  first  ask  what  do  we  understand  by  intelligence. 
We  must  analyze  its  meaning  and  separate  it  into  the 
elements  of  which  it  consists. 

Intelligence  comprises  two  elements  :  (i)  We  mean 
by  intelligence  design,  plan,  order,  harmony,  con- 
formity to  law,  or  Gesctzmdssigkeit ;  and  (2)  when 
speaking  of  intelligence  we  think  that  there  is  attached 
to  it  the  element  of  feeling  or  consciousness. 

Feeling  by  itself  has  nothing  to  do  with  intelli- 
gence ;  yet  consciousness  has  :  consciousness  is  in- 
telligent feeling.  A  single  feeling,  a  pain  or  a  pleas- 
ure, as  long  as  it  remains  isolated  cannot  be  called  in- 
telligent;  yet  it  acquires  a  meaning  as  soon  as  it  re- 
fers to  one  or  several  other  feelings.  For  thus  feelings 
become  representations  of  the  surrounding  conditions 
that  produce  feelings.  Consciousness  is  nothing  but 
a  co-ordination  of  many  feelings  into  one  harmonious 


84  HOMILIES  Of  SCIENCE. 

state.  Beings  in  possession  of  conscious  intelligence 
we  call  persons. 

Now  we  ask,  Can  there  be  design  which  is  not  con- 
nected with  feeling  ?  Can  there  be  order  or  plan  with- 
out a  conscious  being  who  made  the  plan?  We  say, 
Yes. 

The  crystallization  of  a  snowflake  is  made  with 
wonderful  exactness,  in  agreement  with  mathematical 
law.  Is  this  formation  of  snow-crystal  manufactured 
with  purposive  will,  by  a  personal  being  ?  A  mathe- 
matician knows  that  the  regularity  of  forms  necessarily 
depends  upon  the  laws  of  form,  upon  the  same  in- 
trinsic order  which  is  present  in  the  multiplication 
table;  it  depends  upon  the  arithmetical  relations  among 
the  numbers. 

Is  a  personal  intelligence  necessary  for  creating 
the  laws  that  produce  the  harmony  of  arithmetical 
proportions  ?  Is  a  personal  intelligence  necessary  for 
making  the  angles  of  equilateral  triangles  equal  ?  Cer- 
tainly it  is  not. 

Suppose  that  some  substance  crystallizes  at  a  given 
angle.  Necessarily  it  will  form  regular  figures  shaped 
according  to  some  special  plan. 

Suppose  again  that  certain  cells  of  organized  sub- 
stance, plant-cells  or  animal-cells,  perform  special 
functions,  will  they  not  in  their  growth  exhibit  a  cer- 
tain plan  in  conformity  to  their  nature  not  otherwise 
than  a  crystal  ?  They  will,  or  rather  they  must ;  or 
can  we  believe  that  the  interference  of  personal  in- 
telligence is  necessary  to  apply  the  plan  to  the  growth 
of  organized  substance  ?  Organization  is  so  to  say 
crystallization  of  living  substance  ;  it  is  growth  in  con- 
formity to  law. 

The  growth  of  a  child  takes  place  unconsciously, 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  85 

not  otherwise  than  the  growth  of  a  flower.  The  con- 
sciousness developed  in  the  former  is  the  product, 
not  the  condition  of  its  development ;  it  is  the  product 
of  organization.  The  consciousness  of  man  is  the 
highest  kind  of  systematic  co-ordination  of  feeling  that 
we  know  of,  and  therefore  we  say  that  he  is  endowed 
with  intelligence.  Man  is  a  person. 

Personality  is  not  the  annihilation  of  the  mechan- 
ical law  ;  yet  through  the  introduction  of  feeling  the 
mechanical  law  that  governs  the  changes  and  innumer- 
able adaptations  of  a  person,  becomes  so  complex  that 
it  at  first  sight  appears  to  us  as  an  annihilation  of  the 
mechanical  law. 

The  hypothesis  of  a  personal  intelligence  is  not 
needed  to  explain  either  the  design  of  nature,  or  the 
plan  of  evolution,  or  the  gradual  development  of  na- 
tions and  individuals,  which  processes  are  all  in  rigid 
conformity  to  law.  At  the  bottom  of  all  cosmic  order 
lies  the  order  of  mathematics,  the  law  that  twice  two 
is  always  four. 

Personal  interference  is  so  little  necessary  to  pro- 
duce regularity  according  to  some  design  with  any 
exactness,  that  it  would  even  make  it  all  but  im- 
possible. If  man  desires  the  execution  of  some  work 
with  minute  exactness,  he  has  to  invent  a  machine  to 
do  the  work.  A  machine  performs  its  work  with  rigid 
immutability.  And  a  machine,  what  is  it  but  an  unfeel- 
ing and  an  unconscious, — a  mechanical, — intelligence? 
Personality,  what  is  it  but  the  power  of  constantly 
renewed  adaptation?  Personality,  therefore  means 
mutability. 

Suppose  a  book  were  written  and  not  printed  ;  sup- 
pose it  were  produced  by  the  conscious  intelligence  of 
a  personal  being,  and  not  mechanically  by  a  machine  ; 


86  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

could  we  expect  the  same  minute  exactness  ?  As- 
suredly not.  It  would  be  witchery  to  adapt  anything 
in  close  and  rigid  conformity  to  law,  without  machine- 
like  unconscious  intelligence. 

Suppose  that  the  planets  were  run  by  some  per- 
sonal being  ;  that  they  were  constantly  watched  with 
conscious  wisdom  and  regulated  by  purposive  adjust- 
ment ;  we  could  not  trust  our  safety  a  moment  on  this 
planet.  Mechanical  regularity  in  minutest  details  is 

all  but  impossible  in  the  work  of  personal  intelligence. 

* 
*  * 

A  machine  has  no  feeling  and  possesses  no  con- 
scious intelligence  ;  yet  a  machine  must  have  been  in- 
vented by  a  conscious  and  premeditating  intelligence. 
A  machine  proves  the  presence  of  a  designing  person 
somewhere.  And  the  question  arises  :  Could  not  the 
Cosmos  be  considered  as  a  machine  invented  by  a  great 
and  divine  person,  designed  for  some  preconceived 
end? 

Even  though  there  were  no  objections  to  this  rather 
child-like  and  antiquated  anthropomorphism,  this  con- 
ception of  thines  would  be  of  no  use  towards  explain- 
ing the  cosmic  order.  A  machine  is  not  invented  by 
an  inventor  as  a  fairy-tale  is  conceived  by  a  poet.  A 
machine  can  work  only  if  it  conforms  to  that  imper- 
sonal intelligence  which  we  call  mathematical  neces- 
sity. It  is  the  latter  that  makes  the  machine  useful, 
and  it  is  the  latter  that  has  to  be  explained. 

If  God  made  the  world  as  an  inventor  makes  a  ma- 
chine, he  had  to  obey  the  laws  of  nature  and  to  adapt 
his  creations  to  the  formulas  of  mathematics.  In  that 
case,  however,  the  Creator  would  not  be  the  omnipo- 
tent and  supreme  God ;  there  would  still  be  an  imper- 
sonal Deity  above  him.  In  that  case  the  Creator  would 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  87 

be  no  less  subject  to  the  cosmic  order  than  we  poor 
mortals  are. 

Show  me  by  any  convincing  argument  that  the 
cosmic  order  represented  in  so  simple  a  statement  as 
"twice  two  is  four"  had  to  be  created  arbitrarily  by 
some  conscious  intelligence,  and  I  shall  willingly  and 
without  hesitation  return  to  the  anthropomorphic  be- 
lief in  a  personal  God — a  belief  which  was  so  dear  to 
me  in  my  early  youth.  Yet  so  long  as  the  cosmic  or- 
der must  be  recognized  as  uncreated  and  uncreatable, 
as  omnipresent  and  eternal,  as  omnipotent  and  irref- 
ragable, we  must  consider  the  worship  of  a  personal 

God  as  pure  idolatry. 

* 
*  * 

But  this  solution  of  the  problem — is  it  not  dreary 
atheism  ?  It  is  not,  or  it  is — according  to  our  ability 
to  receive  the  message  of  the  necessity,  the  irrefraga- 
bility  of  the  Formal  Law. 

Our  theologians  maintain  that  the  order  of  the 
cosmos  proves  the  existence  of  a  deity.  I  maintain 
that  it  does  more  :  The  order  of  the  Cosmos  is  itself 
divine.  It  does  not  prove  that  there  is  a  God  outside 
the  universe  who  made  the  cosmic  order  ;  it  proves  the 
presence  of  a  God  inside. 

Is  the  order  of  the  Cosmos  void  of  intelligence  ?  It 
is  without  feeling,  but  surely  not  without  plan  or  de- 
sign. The  laws  of  nature  represent  design  ;  they  are 
embodied  design.  The  law  of  gravitation,  for  in- 
stance, does  not  act  with  consciousness,  yet  it  rep- 
resents order.  It  describes  the  regularity  of  the  fall 
of  a  stone  as  well  as  of  all  the  motions  of  the  heavenly 
bodies  in  their  wonderful  order. 

The  immutability  of  the  cosmic  order  disproves 
a  supernatural  God,  but  it  proves  an  immanent  God. 


88  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

And  this  God  cannot  be  a  person.  He  is  more  than 
a  person.  God  is  called  in  the  Old  Testament  the 
Eternal,  he  is  represented  as  immutable.  Can  a  per- 
son be  immutable?  Is  not  personality  embodied  mu- 
tability, is  it  not  adaptability  to  circumstances  ?  The 
divine  order  of  the  Cosmos  as  represented  in  Natural 
Laws  stands  above  all  mutability — unchangeable,  in- 
adaptable,  eternal. 

* 
*  * 

This  God, the  immutability  of  impersonal, or  rather 
of  superpersonal  intelligence's  the  condition  of  science 
and  the  basis  of  ethics.  If  natural  laws  were  personal 
inventions  which  could  be  changed  at  the  pleasure  of 
their  inventor,  science  would  become  impossible,  and 
morality  would  become  an  illusion.  What  is  morality 
but  our  effort  to  conform  to  the  order  of  nature,  and 
above  all,  to  the  laws  that  shape  society  ? 

This  impersonal  intelligence  is  higher  than  person- 
al intelligence,  as  much  so  as  the  laws  of  a  country  are 
infinitely  higher  and  holier  than  all  its  citizens,  its 
princes  and  kings  not  excepted.  There  is  a  rule  in 
monarchies  that  the  sovereign  stands  above  the  law. 
Is  it  necessary  to  explain  that  this  idea  is  a  farce,  an 
illusion,  a  felony  against  the  sanctity  of  the  law?  Sim- 
ilarly, the  idea  of  a  God,  fashioned  according  to  the 
personality  of  man,  is  a  blasphemy  of  the  higher  God, 
of  that  God  who  alone  is  God,  of  the  Deity  that  pass- 
eth  all  understanding,  i.  e.,  all  conscious  reasoning  and 
personal  wisdom. 

The  worship  of  a  personal  God  is  the  last  remnant 
of  paganism.  Our  religious  convictions  can  and  will 
not  be  purified  until  we  apperceive  a  glimpse  of  the 
grandeur  of  a  higher  view. 

There   is  a  superhuman    Deity,  whose  glory    the 


HOMILIES  Of  SCIENCE.  89 

heavens  declare,  and  the  firmament  showeth  his  handi- 
work. Day  unto  day  uttereth  speech,  and  night  un- 
to night  showeth  knowledge.  There  is  no  speech  nor 
language  where  their  voice  is  not  heard.  The  whole 
Cosmos  is  permeated  by  eternal  and  divine  law,  by  in- 
telligence, by  design. 

The  whole  world  is  a  glorious  revelation  of  its  im- 
manent God.  Yet  this  revelation  is  concentrated  in 
man's  personality.  He  possesses,  not  only  a  conscious 
intelligence  reflecting  in  his  soul  the  divinity  of  the 
All,  but  also  the  aspiration  of  moral  ideals  inspiring 
him  to  conform  to  the  cosmic  order  that  rules  supreme 
from  Eternity  to  Eternity. 


THE  CONCEPTIONS  OF  GOD. 


AMONG  the  conceptions  of  God  there  are  three 
which  have  been  and  are  still  the  most  prevalent  and 
powerful ;  these  three  are  Theism,  Pantheism,  and 
Atheism. 

The  Theist  anthropomorphises  that  power  which 
he  recognises  as  the  authority  of  moral  conduct,  and 
looks  upon  it  as  a  stern  ruler  or  a  kind  father.  If  evils 
appear  as  the  consequence  of  vice,  he  says  :  These  are 
God's  visitations  !  And  he  thinks  of  God  as  teaching 
his  creatures  his  will  and  enforcing  his  obedience,  not 
by  making  the  contrary  absolutely  impossible,  but  like 
a  wise  educator  raising  children  in  liberty,  allowing 
them  to  make  mistakes  so  as  to  learn  by  their  own 
experience. 

Theism  is  not  wrong  if  we  keep  before  us  the  fact 
that  the  personality  of  God  is  an  allegory ;  and  it 
must  be  granted  that  it  is  the  best  allegory  we  can 
discover.  There  is  a  world-order  manifesting  itself 
to  those  who  have  eyes  to  see  and  ears  to  hear.  We 
have  to  conform  to  it  and  there  is  no  escape  from  it. 
It  is  omnipresent,  like  all  natural  laws  ;  like  gravita- 
tion it  is  everywhere,  it  is  bound  up  in  all  existence, 
being  that  something  that  encompasseth  all  our  life. 


HOMILIES  OF  SCI l-:\ (.'E.  ()i 

In  describing  this  omnipresence  of  God,  the 
psalmist  says  : 

Whither  shall  I  go  from  thy  spirit  ?  or  whither  shall  I  flee 
from  thy  presence  ? 

If  I  ascend  up  into  heaven,  thou  art  there  :  if  I  make  my  bed 
in  hell,  behold  thou  art  there. 

If  I  take  the  wings  of  the  morning,  and  dwell  in  the  uttermost 
parts  of  the  sea, 

Even  there  shall  thy  hand  lead  me,  and  thy  right  hand  shall 
hold  me. 

There  has  been  made,  so  long  as  Christianity  ex- 
ists and  even  longer,  a  strong  opposition  to  the  idea 
that  God  is,  like  man,  an  individual  being,  having  at 
different  times  different  passions  and  desires.  The 
Old  Testament  contains  the  well-known  passage  : 
"  God  is  not  a  man  that  he  should  lie  ;  neither  the  son 
of  man  that  he  should  repent." 

God  is  as  little  a  person  as  are  the  ideas  of  Good- 
ness, Beauty,  and  Truth  ;  and  the  passages  of  the  Bi- 
ble in  which  God  is  described  as  wroth  or  repenting, 
or  as  being  subject  to  any  emotion  or  sentiment  of  a 
human  character,  have  been  understood  since  they 
were  written,  by  rabbis  no  less  than  by  the  fathers  of 
the  Church,  in  an  allegorical  sense,  which  was  not 
only  appropriate  because  of  the  strength  and  express- 
iveness of  the  simile,  but  because  it  was  also  the  lan- 
guage of  the  -time.  To  speak  or  think  of  spiritual  things 
otherwise  than  in  the  habits  of  the  times  would  be 
equivalent  to  expecting  that  the  author  of  Genesis 
should  have  known  Darwin's  origin  of  the  species  and 
all  the  details  of  natural  history  when  he  described  in 
great  poetical  outlines  the  formation  of  the  world  and 
the  origin  of  man  out  of  the  dust  of  the  earth. 

The  dogmatic  view  that  God  is  a  person  and  must 
be  considered  as  a  person  became  finally  established 


ga  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

as  the  orthodox  view  of  the  Church  during  the  second 
and  third  century  after  Christ,  and  in  this  way  all 
other  views  were  branded  as  atheism.  But  who  gave  to 
a  few  narrow-minded  bishops  and  to  the  theologians  of 
a  special  school  the  right  to  impose  this  interpretation 
of  the  Bible  upon  all  mankind  ?  Who  gave  the  right 
to  Athanasius  to  pronounce  as  an  ecumenical  con- 
fession of  faith  the  Quicunque  vult  salvus  esse,  i.  e. 
"No  one  can  be  saved  except  he  believe  as  is  here 
prescribed."  Living  the  truth  can  save  alone.  But 
the  truth  cannot  be  pronounced  on  the  motion  of  a 
bishop  by  the  majority  decision  of  an  ecclesiastic 
council.  The  truth  must  be  searched  for,  it  must  be 
established  by  careful  observation  and  critique,  it 
must  be  proved. 

We  are  willing  to  recognise  the  truth  wherever 
we  find  it,  even  in  the  errors  of  the  past  ;  we  will  pa- 
tiently winnow  all  opinions  and  creeds,  lest  we  throw 
away  the  wheat  together  with  the  useless  chaff.  But 
with  all  that,  we  do  not  intend  to  compromise  with 
superstitions  sanctified  by  traditions.  If  Athanasius's 
view  of  God  and  other  religious  conceptions  are  to  be 
regarded  as  infallible  truth  too  sacred  for  criticism  and 
required  to  be  accepted  blindly,  we  shall  openly  and 
squarely  side  with  atheism  and  denounce  the  belief  in 
God  as  a  superstition. 

Atheism  is  right  in  the  face  of  dogma  and  dog- 
matic theism.  There  is  no  person  ruling  the  world  ; 
all  the  processes  of  nature  take  place  with  an  intrinsic 
necessity  according  to  the  life  that  is  in  everything 
that  exists.  The  whole  world  is  one  great  cosmos 
pervaded  by  unalterable  law. 

But  was  the  idea  of  God  not  something  more  than 
a  belief  in  a  huge  person  ?  Is  it  possible  that  an 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  93 

enormous  error  swayed  the  intellectual  development 
of  humanity  for  millenniums?  The  strength  of  the 
God  idea  was  not  its  error  but  its  truth,  and  its  truth 
is  contained  in  the  fact,  that  in  spite  of  the  advantages 
which  sin,  malevolence,  iniquity,  falsehood,  and  disre- 
gard of  the  rights  of  others  seem  to  bring  the  evil-doer, 
humanity  still  believed  in  the  final  victory  of  justice 
and  the  triumph  of  truth.  And  this  one  feature  in 
the  idea  of  God  was  predominant  whenever  and  wher- 
ever it  exercised  a  moral  influence  over  the  minds  of 
men.  It  gave  them  strength  in  temptation,  hope  in 
affliction,  and  confidence  in  tribulation.  And  shall  we 
relinquish  this  treasure  because  it  was  alloyed  with 
error?  Shall  we  drop  with  the  personality  of  God  all 
the  moral  truth  which  the  idea  contains  ? 
Schiller  says  : 

"  One  God  exists,  one  holy  will, 
While  fickle  man  may  waver. 
Above  time  and  space  there  liveth  still 
The  highest  idea  forever." 

If,  then,  God  is  no  person,  if  God  is  consid- 
ered as  the  All  in  All,  if  Nature  alone  is  God,  is  not 
the  latter  view  nearer  the  truth  than  theism  ?  This 
view  which  identifies  God  and  the  world  is  called 
Pantheism,  and  it  cannot  be  denied  that  in  the  face 
of  the  theistic  view,  pantheism  is  a  deeper  and  more 
correct  conception  of  God.  Nevertheless,  Pantheism 
has  also  its  blind  side,  and  most  of  its  defenders  are 
entangled  in  gross  errors. 

It  is  true  that  the  idea  of  a  personal  God  outside  of 
the  world  and  nature  is  not  tenable  ;  yet  the  idea  of 
God  and  the  idea  of  nature  are  not  identical.  God  is 
nature  in  so  far  only  as  nature  serves  us  as  a  regulative 
principle  for  our  actions.  God  is  the  cosmos  in  so  far 
only  as  its  laws  represent  the  ultimate  authority  of 


94  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

moral  conduct.  God  is  not  the  heat  of  the  sun,  not 
the  rain  that  descends  from  the  clouds;  he  is  not  the 
blossom  of  the  tree,  nor  the  ear  of  wheat  in  the  field. 
The  idea  of  God  is  a  special  abstraction,  different  from 
other  abstractions,  and  it  should  not  be  confounded 
with  them.  Pantheism  recognising  the  truth  that  there 
is  no  God  outside  of  the  universe,  preposterously  con- 
founds God  and  the  universe  and  thus  leads  to  the 
confusion  of  a  God-Nature,  in  which  there  is  no  wrong, 
no  sin,  no  evil. 

It  has  been  said,  and  it  is  true,  that  the  weakness 
of  Pantheism  is  its  inability  to  explain  the  evil  of  the 
world.  If  the  All  is  in  every  respect  absolutely  iden- 
tical with  God,  there  is  no  evil :  if  everything  is  a  part 
of  God,  its  existence  whatever  it  be,  even  the  exist- 
ence of  evil,  is  sanctified  by  being  divine.  There 
would  be  no  wrong,  but  there  would  be  no  right  either. 
The  morally  bad  would  disappear  together  with  that 
which  is  morally  good,  and  the  whole  would  appear  as 
an  absolutely  indifferent  and  meaningless  play  of  phys- 
ical forces. 

Does  this  state  of  things  really  represent  life  as  it 
is?  Are  there  no  ideals,  no  aspirations?  Is  there  no 
direction,  no  goal,  no  aim  in  the  evolution  of  life  and 
in  the  development  of  mankind  ?  Surely  there  is 
good  and  bad,  there  is  right  and  wrong,  there  is  health 
and  sickness,  there  is  prosperity  and  ruin,  evolution 
and  dissolution,  building  up  and  breaking  down  ;  there 
is  heaven  and  hell  in  human  hearts,  there  is  God — and 
the  devil.  The  world  as  it  is  is  possible  only  in  these 
contraries,  in  these  oppositions,  and  its  life  is  a  con- 
stant struggle  between  Ormuzd  and  Ahriman. 

It  is  a  vain  dream  to  think  of  a  world  which  is  good 
throughout.  We  can  as  little  think  of  light  that  casts 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  95 

no  shadow  as  of  "good"  without  being  the  resistance 
to  "evil,"  or  without  standing  in  a  contrast  to  "bad." 
Christ  said  : 

"Woe  unto  the  world  because  of  offences  !  For  it  must  needs 
be  that  offences  come ;  but  woe  to  that  man  by  whom  the  offence 
cometh." 

The  Talmud  contains  a  legend  that  the  rabbis  had 
once  succeeded  in  catching  the  devil  and  keeping  him 
confined,  when  lo  !  the  whole  world  came  to  a  stand- 
still. Everybody  went  to  sleep  and  all  life  ceased. 
Suppose  it  were  possible  that  a  world  existed  without 
any  evil,  it  would  be  a  world  without  any  opposites, 
it  would  be  a  world  of  indifferent  homogeneity,  with- 
out aim,  without  direction,  without  interests.  If  there 
were  at  all  in  an  absolutely  good  world  a  play  of  forces 
evolution  would  be  as  good  as  dissolution,  progress 
would  be  equivalent  to  retrogression,  and  the  cosmos 
would  be  a  machine  which  might  be  turned  backward 
just  as  well  as  forward. 

Could  you  have  a  thermometer  which  indicates  the 
heat  only  and  not  the  cold  at  the  same  time?  Good 
and  evil  are  relations  which  are  deeply  founded  in  the 
nature  of  things.  These  relations  arise  through  the 
very  complications  of  life.  To  identify  God  and  the 
All,  to  understand  by  God  the  upward  direction  just 
as  much  as  the  downward  direction  of  evolution,  is  the 
same  mistake  as  to  identify  the  concepts  heat  and  tem- 
perature. It  is  true  that  the  same  degree  of  the  ther- 
mometer may  now  be  perceived  as  heat  and  now  as 
cold.  Heat  and  cold  are  not  two  things  mixed  in  our 
temperature ;  they  are  one.  So  are  good  and  evil. 
Nevertheless  there  is  a  difference  in  the  rising  and  the 
failing  of  the  thermometer.  There  is  a  difference  of 
heat  and  cold.  This  difference  is  relative  and  it  dis- 


g6  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

appears  as  soon  as  we  leave  the  sphere  of  relations 
and  consider  either  a  single  moment  in  its  unrelated 
isolation  or  the  total  whole  in  its  absolute  entirety.  A 
single  act  in  my  life  if  it  remained  unrelated  and  iso- 
lated could  be  called  neither  good  nor  evil.  There  is 
no  absolute  evil ;  nor  is  there  any  absolute  cold.  An 
isolated  act  would  be  like  a  certain  position  of  the 
thermometer  of  which  we  do  not  know  whether  it  rep- 
resents a  rise  or  a  fall.  It  becomes  hot  or  cold  not 
until  it  is  referred  to  another  state  of  temperature. 
And  there  is  no  sense  either  in  speaking  of  the  morality 
or  immorality  of  the  All  in  its  absolute  totality. 

That  which  appears  to  us  from  our  standpoint  as  evil 
— and  I  do  not  deny  that,  considered  in  this  relation,  it 
is  actually  and  undeniably  evil — appears  if  considered 
in  the  whole  as  a  part  of  the  total  development  of  uni 
versal  life,  as  a  transitional  and  a  necessary  phase 
only.  It  is  a  partial  breakdown,  but  it  is  no  absolute 
destruction. 

The  evil  in  the  world  is  comparable  to  the  negative 
magnitudes  and  quantities  in  arithmetic.  There  are 
no  negative  things  in  the  world  ;  but  there  are  nega- 
tive magnitudes  in  arithmetic.  They  represent  a  con- 
trary direction  to  that  which  has  been  posited.  The 
minus  is  a  positive  operation,  but  this  operation  is 
employed  to  reverse  a  plus  of  equal  magnitude.  The 
plus  and  minus  operations  have  sense  and  meaning 
only  if  considered  in  their  mutual  relation.  This  re- 
lation being  neglected  we  have  only  single  operations 
or  the  results  of  operations,  but  neither  positive  nor 
negative  magnitudes.  If  the  impossibility  could  be 
thought,  that  there  are  no  interconnections  among  the 
parts  of  the  whole  cosmos,  we  should  have  neither 
bad  nor  good,  but  only  isolated  actual  existences. 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  97 

Consider  the  whole  world  as  a  whole  and  destruc- 
tion disappears  as  much  as  new  creations.  There  are, 
so  far  as  we  can  see,  only  actual  existences  which 
move  onward  somehow  in  some  direction.  That  which 
appears  to  us  as  a  dissolution,  as  a  destruction,  is  in  the 
motion  of  the  whole  a  mers  preparation  for  a  new  gen- 
eration. The  breakdown  of  a  solar  system  must  appear 
only  as  an  evil,  as  a  negative  operation  in  comparison 
to  the  positive  operation  of  a  building  up.  But  in  the 
entire  cosmic  life  it  will  most  likely  be  the  indispen- 
sable preliminary  phase  of  the  construction  of  a  new 
world.  In  the  entire  cosmic  life,  there  is  no  evil,  there 
is  the  progress  of  formation  on  the  one  hand  and  there 
is  on  the  other  hand  the  dissolution  of  those  combina- 
tions which  have  become  unfit  for  a  continued  exist- 
ence. They  must  be  dissolved  in  order  to  be  prepared 
for  new  formations;  and  thus  their  dissolution  may 
be  considered  as  a  blessing,  as  much  as  the  curses 
that  rest  upon  sin,  if  viewed  as  integral  parts  of  the 
whole  world-order,  are  not  inflictions;  they  are  as  much 
blessings  as  the  gains  that  accompany  noble  deeds. 

In  this  sense  we  may  say  that  God  is  everywhere 
in  nature,  he  is  in  evolution,  he  is  in  dissolution,  he 
will  be  found  in  the  storm;  he  will  be  found  in  the 
calm.  He  lives  in  the  bliss  of  good  aspirations  and  in 
the  visitations  that  follow  evil  actions.  He  lives  in 
the  growth  of  life  and  in  its  decay.  God  is  not  the 
storm,  he  is  not  the  calm,  he  is  not  the  decay  of  life, 
he  is  not  dissolution.  He  is  not  the  bliss  of  virtue, 
nor  is  he  the  curse  of  sin.  But  he  is  in  them  all. 

In  contradistinction  to  Theism,  Atheism,  and  espe- 
cially to  Pantheism,  we  call  this  conception  of  God 
Entheism. 

God  is   the  indestructible   sursum,  which  ensouls 


98  HOMILIES  O/-  SCIENCE. 

everything  that  exists,  which  constitutes  the  direction 
of  evolution  and  the  growth  of  life,  which  is  the  truth 
in  the  empire  of  spiritual  existence.  It  is  an  actu- 
ality, no  less  than  matter  and  energy ;  and  indeed 
like  these  two,  which  represent  as  it  were  God's  re- 
ality as  well  as  his  power  and  omnipotence,  it  cannot 
be  lost  in  all  the  changes  that  take  place  in  the  con- 
stant formation,  dissolution,  and  re-formation  of  solar 
systems.  It  is  eternal,  and  it  is  in  him  we  live  and 
and  move  and  have  our  being. 


IS  GOD  A  MIND? 


WE  read  in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  : 

"And  God  said,  Let  us  make  man  in  our  image,  after  our 
likeness  :  and  let  them  have  dominion  over  the  fish  of  the  sea, 
and  over  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  over  the  cattle,  and  over  all  the 
earth,  and  over  every  creeping  thing  ihat  creepeth  upon  the  earth. 

"So  God  created  man  in  his  own  image,  in  the  image  of  God 
created  he  him." 

These  verses  are  significant.  They  have  a  scien- 
tific meaning.  To  us  God  is  that  power  to  which  we 
have  to  conform  ;  he  has  produced  man  such  as  he  is, 
that  is  as  the  thinking  being  that  aspires  to  ever  higher 
and  nobler  ideals,  to  us  accordingly  the  view  that  man 
is  created  in  the  image  of  God  becomes  self-evident 
and  almost  tautological.  But  primitive  thinkers  start- 
ing from  the  supposition  that  man  is  a  likeness  of  God 
were  led  to  the  strange  error  thaf  God  in  his  turn  must 
be  a  likeness  of  man.  Thus  arose  all  the  anthropo- 
morphic conceptions  of  God. 

That  power  which  produced  man — let  us  at  present 
call  it  "nature"  so  as  to  avoid  the  old  confusion  of 
anthropomorphism — cannot  have  been  matter  and 
nothing  but  matter,  it  cannot  have  been  force  or  energy 
and  nothing  but  force,  it  cannot  have  been  sentiency 
or  the  conditions  of  sentiency,  and  nothing  but  poten- 
tial sentiency.  Nor  can  it  have  been  form  or  a  forma- 


ioo  1IOMILIKS  01-  SCIENCE. 

tive  principle  alone.  It  cannot  have  been  law  and  or- 
der only.  It  must  have  been  all  this  together.  Matter, 
force,  sentiency,  form,  law,  and  order  are  only  aspects 
of  nature,  they  are  only  abstract  ideas  representing 
some  qualities  of  reality,  which  alone  is  the  One  and 
All.  And  this  One  and  All  is  not  a  meaningless  chaos, 
as  it  represents  itself  in  minds  that  are  confounded, 
but  an  orderly  and  living  whole  bringing  forth  out  of 
itself  sentient  beings  in  whom  its  existence  is  mirrored. 
Existence  mirrored  in  minds  is  not  a  mere  Fata  Mor- 
gana, a  beautiful  mirage,  but  it  serves  the  practical 
purpose  of  guidance,  to  let  the  children  of  nature  live 
in  accord  with  its  great  mother,  to  show  them  the  way 
of  salvation,  the  gate  that  leadeth  unto  life. 

When  we  speak  of  nature  we  think  as  a  rule  of 
certain  single  phenomena  only  of  this  One  and  All ;  we 
think  of  mountains  and  trees  but  not  so  much  of  man's 
mind  and  his  interferences  with  the  rest  of  nature — 
for  properly  considered  man's  mind  is  a  part  of  nature. 
When  we  speak  of  reality,  we  think  above  all  of  its  actu- 
ality, its  efficacy,  its  immediate  presence,  but  when  we 
speak  of  God,  we  think  of  it  as  an  authoritative  existence, 
as  our  standard  of  ethics,  as  the  moral  law,  allegor- 
ically  represented  as.our  Father,  that  is,  as  the  power 
that  created  us  and  guides  us  still,  to  which  we  have 
to  conform  in  our  ethical  aspirations.  Nature,  Real- 
ity, God,  or  whatever  other  expression  we  may  have 
for  the  One  and  All  of  the  great  Cosmos  in  its  infinite 
manifestations  and  in  its  eternal  being,  are  all  names 
only,  abstract  ideas  representing  now  this  and  now 
that  quality  of  one  and  the  same  existence. 

Sentient  creatures,  the  children  of  God,  in  so  far 
as  they  are  psychical  are  called  minds.  And  we  ask, 
What  do  we  understand  by  minds  ? 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  101 

A  mind,  in  brief,  is  a  description  of  the  world  in 
ideas.  "Ideas"  means  literally  "images. "  The  dif- 
ferent things  are  represented,  and  the  interaction 
among  these  representations  is  called  thinking. 

How  ideas  originate  is  a  question  the  solution  of 
which  can  only  be  hinted  at  in  this  connection.  Mind 
can  originate  only  in  feeling  beings.  The  feelings  of 
feeling  beings  are  different  according  to  the  different 
sense-impressions  through  and  with  which  they  make 
their  appearance,  similar  sense-impressions  being  as- 
sociated with  similar  feelings.  Thus  feelings  acquire 
meaning.  The  various  causes  of  the  different  sense-im- 
pressions are  symbolised  in  various  feelings  as  well  as 
in  the  memory  pictures  of  these  various  feelings.  Ideas 
again  are  symbols  representing  whole  groups  of  such 
feelings  as  are  somehow  constantly  associated.  And 
the  glorious  evolution  of  the  realm  of  ideas  in  living 
beings  is  easily  explained  if  we  consider  its  usefulness 
as  a  means  of  information  concerning  the  surrounding 
world.  They  afford  the  possibility  of  orientation  and 
serve  as  a  guidance  for  action.  With  the  assistance 
of  representative  images  plans  of  action  become  pos- 
sible, and  a  conception  of  a  better  arrangement  of  this 
or  that  state  of  things — generally  called  an  ideal — is 
of  the  highest  importance  to  the  further  development 
of  life  and  mind.  A  growth  of  mind  leads  to  an  in- 
crease of  power.  Each  acquirement  of  truth  means 
an  expanse  of  the  dominion  of  mind  in  nature. 

Minds  naturally  grow  by  degrees  ;  they  start  with 
simple  feelings  in  irritable  substance,  and  in  the  long 
run  of  millenniums  through  a  preservation  of  soul- 
structures  (generally  called  hereditary  transmission) 
and,  in  the  higher  grades  of  life,  through  a  direct 
transference  of  mind  by  means  of  education  they  gather 


102  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE, 

a  rich  store  of  soul-structures,  of  pictures  representing 
innumerable  objects  as  well  as  the  subtle  relations 
among  these  objects. 

Let  us  now  ask  whether  God  can  be  a  mind. 
Our  answer  is  decidedly  negative.  Every  mind  is  a 
world  of  representations,  of  pictures,  of  ideas ;  and 
these  ideas,  pictures,  and  representations  have  a  mean- 
ing. If  they  are  true  they  represent  realities.  Now 
if  there  is  a  God,  and  we  say  that  there  is,  God  is  not 
ideality  but  reality ;  he  is  not  a  mental  representation 
of  the  actual  world,  of  nature,  of  the  Universe,  of  the 
Cosmos ;  he  is  much  more  than  a  mere  representa- 
tion, he  is  the  actual  world,  nature,  the  Universe,  the 
Cosmos  itself.  He  is  the  One  and  All,  not  a  part  of 
it,  or  a  mere  picture  of  it.  God  is  also  the  picture, 
and  he  is  that  quality  of  the  world  which  makes  the 
picturing  in  minds  possible.  God  is  in  the  mind,  he 
reveals  himself  in  the  human  soul ;  he  appears  in 
Truth.  But  God  is  not  only  the  truth ;  he  is  infinitely 
more  than  the  truth,  he  is  the  reality  represented  in 
the  truth. 

Truth  is  truth  because  it  is  an  image  shaped  unto 
the  likeness  of  the  original.  The  human  mind  is 
created  as  an  image  of  God.  Now  the  theologian 
comes  and  says,  Man  is  like  God,  man  is  mind — i.  e., 
a  world  of  images  or  ideas — therefore  God  must  be  a 
mind.  Is  this  not  like  saying,  This  is  a  picture  of 
George  Washington,  it  is  like  George  Washington. 
Therefore  George  Washington  is  a  picture !  No ! 
George  Washington  is  more  than  a  picture  ;  he  is  the 
original  of  the  picture  ! 

It  is  often  said  that  man  is  a  finite  mind  and  God 
is  an  infinite  mind.  But  what  has  either  infinitude  or 
finiteness  to  do  with  mind  ?  Mind,  every  mind,  is  in- 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  103 

finite  in  its  possibilities,  there  is  no  limit  to  its  growth, 
there  is  no  boundary  which  it  cannot  reach  and  tran- 
scend. But  at  any  special  state,  as  at  present  or  at 
any  moment  in  the  future,  mind  is  and  always  will  be 
something  definite.  Consider  that  all  mental  repre- 
sentations are  possible  only  through  limitation.  Thus 
vision  is  possible  only  through  focusing  the  eyes  upon 
one  spot.  Comprehension  in  mental  pictures,  is  a 
focusing  of  the  mind's  attention  upon  one  thing  or  one 
feature  of  things.  Accordingly  minds  in  this  sense  are 
always  finite,  always  limited.  Every  mind  is  always 
the  mind  of  a  concrete  being  and  the  contents  of  every 
mind  are  also  of  a  concrete  kind.  Think  of  infinite 
pictures,  or  infinite  ideas  !  What  a  meaningless  com- 
bination of  words  !  If  God,  the  One  and  All,  is  infinite 
indeed,  he  certainly  cannot  be  a  mind. 

We  might  and  some  people  indeed  do  understand 
by  mind  the  nature  of  mind,  mentality.  The  nature 
of  mind  may  be  found  in  sentiency  or  in  that  quality 
of  nature  which  produces  sentiency-  -we  call  it  poten- 
tial sentiency.  Or  it  may  be  found  in  the  order  pre- 
vailing among  the  mental  representations,  which  order 
is  representative  of  the  objective  world-order,  of  the 
cosmic  law  and  the  rationality  of  the  universe  as  rep- 
resented in  cosmic  laws.  Very  well.  If  "mind  "  means 
the  nature  of  mind,  then  certainly  God  is  mind,  but 
he  is  not  a  mind. 

If  God  were  a  mind,  it  were  necessary  for  him  to 
have  ideas.  Otherwise  his  mind  would  represent 
without  representations  and  symbolise  without  sym- 
bols. He  would  have  to  think  his  ideas  consecutively 
as  we  do  and  form  different  associations  at  a  time. 
Yet,  what  would  mental  representations  avail  him  ? 
He  need  not  think,  he  need  not  speak  to  himself 


104  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

in  order  to  make  up  his  mind  to  act  in  this  or  that 
way.  He  simply  acts.  He  in  his  all-sufficiency  is  al- 
ways himself  and  thus  he  is  consistent  with  himself. 

In  the  catechism  this  truth  is  mythologically  ex- 
pressed in  the  idea  of  omniscience.  Nature,  as  it  were, 
obeys  the  law  everywhere.  The  falling  stone  falls  as 
if  it  knew  the  law  of  gravitation  and  had  correctly 
computed  the  present  case.  Nature  need  not  know 
the  law  in  order  to  obey  it.  She  need  not  employ  the 
symbols  of  mental  representation  to  remain  consistent 
with  herself.  She  is  herself  everywhere,  and  the  laws 
of  nature  are  a  part  and  feature  of  nature.  We  say, 
Nature  is  as  it  were  omniscient.  Actually  nature  is 
more  than  omniscient.  As  omniscient,  she  might  com- 
municate information  about  all  things  of  herself  to  her- 
self. This  communication,  however,  is  so  direct,  she 
being  herself  everywhere,  that  its  means,  i.  e.  the  sym- 
bols, which  are  the  crutches  of  communication,  dis- 
appear into  zero.  The  communication  is  received 
before  it  is  pronounced. 

That  God  should  be  the  One  and  All,  and  at  the 
same  time  a  mind,  would  be  something  like  saying, 
that  a  man  in  order  to  be  a  man  and  himself,  should 
always  have  his  passport  or  his  picture  in  his  pocket. 
No  !  If  we  speak  of  the  man,  we  mean  the  man  and 
not  his  picture.  If  we  speak  of  God,  we  mean  the 
All-Being  and  not  a  mind,  we  mean  the  original  and 
not  the  copy,  we  mean  the  creator  and  not  the  creature. 

Is  it  Atheism  to  deny  that  God  is  a  mind?  If  you 
understand  by  God  that  he  is  a  person  like  ourselves, 
it  certainly  is  Atheism.  But  if  the  conception  of  God 
as  a  mind  and  a  person  were  the  only  allowable  God- 
idea,  then  theism  would  be  paganism.  What  is  pagan- 
ism but  the  personification  of  parts  of  nature  or  nature 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  105 

as  a  whole  and  the  acting  accordingly.  Pagans  try  to 
bend  the  course  of  nature  and  natural  laws  not  by  their 
own  efforts  and  honest  work,  but  by  prayers  and  sacri- 
fices— as  if  God  or  the  Gods  were  human  beings  like 
ourselves  influenced  by  flatteries  and  bribable  by  gifts  ! 
Christ  has  done  away  with  the  vain  repetitions  as  do 
the  heathens,  but  the  Christians  still  cling  to  Pagan 
customs,  pagan  rites  and  a  pagan  conception  of  God. 

People  who  have  given  little  thought  to  the  sub- 
ject might  think,  that  if  God  is  not  a  mind,  it  is  as 
good  as  if  he  did  not  exist.  Then  he  would  only  be 
brute  force  and  crude  matter.  But  this  is  a  mistaken 
conception  of  God.  The  materialist  runs  to  the  other 
extreme.  God  is  not  mere  force  and  God  is  not  crude 
matter.  How  grand  and  divine  this  wonderful  All- 
Being  is,  can  only  be  learned  from  its  manifestations. 
The  heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God  and  the  firma- 
ment showeth  his  handiwork.  Day  unto  day  uttereth 
speech  and  night  unto  night  showeth  knowledge. 
There  is  no  speech  nor  language  where  their  voice  is 
not  heard.  Yet  grander  than  all  the  starry  heavens 
in  their  glorious  concert  is  the  soul  of  man,  the  mind 
that  yearns  for  truth,  the  spirit  that  understands,  and 
aspires  to  achieve,  the  work  of  truth. 

The  All,  the  Cosmos,  God,  or  by  whatever  name 
we  may  call  the  great  whole  of  which  we  are  parts  and 
phenomena,  is  not  a  heap  of  material  atoms  nor  a 
chaos  of  blind  forces.  The  most  characteristic  feature 
of  his  being  is  order  and  law.  And  this  order  and  law 
is  called  in  the  New  Testament  Logos — i.  e.  rationality, 
reason,  logical  consistency.  God  would  be  no  God 
without  the  logos.  This  Logos  is  a  constitutional  part 
of  God.  God  is  not  a  mind,  but  he  is  mind,  he  is 
logos,  and  he  appears  in  mind.  God  is  not  truth,  but 


io6  HOMILIES  or  SCIENCE. 

he  appears  in  truth.  This  is  the  revelation  which 
Christianity  has  brought  into  the  world. 

Says  St.  John :  "  In  the  beginning,  [that  means 
from  eternity]  was  the  Logos  and  the  Logos  was  with 
God  and  the  Logos  was  God.  All  things  were  made 
by  him  and  without  him  was  not  anything  made  that 
was  made.  .  .  .  And  the  Logos  was  made  flesh." 

This  last  sentence  is  the  kernel  of  Christianity. 
The  divinity  of  the  world  appears  in  humanity,  and 
and  true  humanity  embodies  all  that  which  we  call 
divine.  The  son  of  man  is  the  child  of  God  and  the 
ideal  of  humanity  is  the  God  man.  God  is  not  a  mind, 
but  nevertheless  God  is  mind,  and  when  we  come  to 
ask,  where  is  the  Father,  Christ  answers  very  posi- 
tively and  unmistakably  "I  and  the  Father  are  one." 

Those  who  believe  in  God,  as  being  a  mind  are 
more  pagan  than  they  are  aware  of.  It  may  be  said 
that  God  is  mind,  but  not  a  mind.  Suppose  he  were 
a  mind,  is  that  not  actually  polytheism  only  with  the 
number  of  Gods  reduced  to  the  singular?  Christ  does 
not  say,  God  is  a  spirit,  but  "God  is  spirit."  Yet  the 
pagan  conception  of  God  has  been  so  influential  that 
the  translator  has  inserted  that  little  word  which 
changes  a  most  radical,  a  philosophical  and  a  monistic 
idea  into  the  ,very  same  superstitions  against  which 
Christ  had  protested  so  vigorously. 

Science  is  not  dangerous  to  religion,  and  clear 
thought  is  not  against  the  teachings  of  Christ.  Science 
is  dangerous  to  superstitions  and  clear  thought  is  in- 
compatible with  many  dogmas  and  conceptions  which 
are  upheld  at  present  by  the  Christian  churches.  The 
dogmatist  rightly  shuns  the  light  of  science,  but  the 
religious  man,  that  is,  he  who  wants  truth  unadulter- 
ated and  is  ready  to  conform  to  truth,  to  live  it  and  to 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  107 

act  according  to  his   best  knowledge  of  truth,  he  will 
not  lose  his  religion  but  purify  it  through  thought  and 
scientific  exactness  of  thought. 
Says  Lord  Bacon  : 

"A  little  philosophy  inclineth  Man's  mind  to  atheism,  but 
depth  in  philosophy  bringeth  men's  minds  about  to  religion." 

Bacon's  view  of  God  is  not  clear  and  thus  this  fa- 
mous saying  of  his  also  lacks  lucidity.  We  understand 
it  and  quote  it  in  the  sense,  that  a  little  philosophy  is 
sufficient  to  make  apparent  the  contradictions  and  ab- 
surdities contained  in  the  traditional  idea  of  God. 
But  a  deeper  insight  will  reveal  the  profound  truth 
that  is  contained  therein.  Depth  in  philosophy  will 
help  us  to  purify  the  fundamental  conceptions  of  re- 
ligious thought,  above  all  the  idea  of  God.  When  we 
maintain  that  God  is  not  a  mind,  we  do  not  deny  that 
he  is  mind,  taking  mind  in  the  sense  of  the  Greek 
"logos";  and  at  any  rate  he  is  greater  than  the 
greatest  human  or  other  mind  can  be,  for  he  is  the  re- 
ality itself  of  which  a  mind  is  only  an  image,  a  sym- 
bol, and  a  representation. 


IS  THE  INFINITE  A  RELIGIOUS  IDEA? 


PROF.  MAX  MUELLER'S  view  of  religion  is  based  on 
the  conception  of  the  infinite.  His  idea  of  God  is  the 
infinite  behind  the  finite.  He  says  : 

"Convince  the  human  understanding  that  there  can  be  acts 
without  agents,  that  there  can  be  a  limit  without  something  be- 
yond, that  there  can  be  a  finite  without  a  non-finite,  and  you  have 
proved  that  there  is  no  God." 

Is  this  not  going  rather  too  far  ?  Does  the  agent 
supposed  to  be  behind  the  processes  of  nature  con- 
stitute nature's  divinity?  Prof.  Max  Miiller's  view 
of  God  is  scientific  as  well  as  radical,  but  it  makes  of 
religion  a  metaphysical  speculation  ;  it  identifies  it 
with  the  conception  of  an  hypothetic  something  be- 
hind nature  of  which  we  really  know  nothing.  It  ap- 
pears very  desirable  to  free  religion  from  this  metaphys- 
ical element  and  build  it  upon  the  positive  facts  of  our 
experience  which  will  always  remain  its  safest  founda- 
tion. 

Positivism  knows  of  no  agent  behind  the  natural 
phenomena ;  it  dispenses  also  with  the  agent  behind 
the  psychical  processes  of  soul-life.  Positivism  is  an 
economy  of  thought.  Instead  of  viewing  acts  as  mo- 
tions produced  by  the  pressure  of  an  agent  behind 
them,  we  think  the  act  and  agent  together  as  one.  The 
agent  is  in,  not  behind  the  act.  The  act  is  the  agent 
itself. 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  109 

Positivism  is  commonly  represented  as  atheism  just 
as  much  as  the  view  of  the  orthodox  Oxford  Professor 
would  have  been  decried  as  atheism  some  ten  or 
twenty  years  ago.  And  I  grant  that  Positivism  is  not 
Theism,  if  Theism  means  the  belief  in  a  personal  God 
who  being  shaped  into  the  image  of  man,  is  conceived 
as  an  individual  being,  as  a  great  world-ego  swayed 
by  considerations  and  even  by  passions  and  emotions, 
th'nking  now  of  this  now  of  that  thought,  and  regulat- 
ing the  affairs  of  the  universe  as  it  pleases  him  like  a 
powerful  monarch. 

There  is  nothing  more  or  less  divine  in  the  infinite 
than  in  any  other  mathematical,  logical,  or  scientific 
idea.  The  infinite  has  one  advantage  only — if  it  be 
an  advantage — over  other  ideas  ;  its  nature  is  less 
understood.  But  if  there  were  anything  divine  in 
the  conception  of  the  infinite,  why  do  we  not  use  such 
formulas  a  \  or  tangent  90  degrees,  or  yimply  the  sign 

00  as  holy  emblems  in  our  churches? 

Prof.  Max  Miiller  must  have  felt  this  insufficiency 
of  the  idea  of  infinitude  as  the  basis  of  religion.  At 
least  he  has  on  another  occasion  modified  his  defini- 
tion. In  another  article  of  his,*  Prof.  Max  Miiller 
says  : 

"  It  may  be  said  in  fact  it  has  been  said,  that  the  definition 
of  religion  which  I  laid  down  is  too  narrow  and  too  arbitrary.  .  .  . 

1  thought  it  right  to  modify  my  first  definition  of  religion  as  '  the 
perception  of  the  Infinite,'  by  narrowing  that  perception  to  '  such 
manifestations  as  are  able  to  influence  the  moral  character  of  man. 
I  do  not  deny  that   in  the  beginning  the  perception  of  the  Infinite 
had  often  very  little  to  do  with  moral  ideas,  and  I  am  quite  aware 
that  many  religions  enjoin  what  is  either  not  moral  or  even  im- 
moral.    But   though  there  are  perceptions  of  the  Infinite  uncon- 

*  Fire-  Worship  and  Mythology  in  thfir  Relation  to  Religion,  ( The  Open 
Court,  page  2322,  No.  146,  Vol.  IV. — 16). 


no  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

nected  as  yet  with  moral  ideas,  I  doubt  whether  they  should  be 
called  religious  till  they  assume  a  moral  influence.  On  this  point 
there  may  be  difference  of  opinion,  but  every  one  may  claim  the 
right  of  his  own  opinion." 

The  infinite,  it  appears  to  me,  is  not  at  all  a  spe- 
cially religious  idea,  and  it  will  be  very  difficult  to 
prove  how  the  idea  of  the  infinite  can  ever  assume  a 
moral  influence,  except  in  a  very  limited  sphere.  The 
powers  of  nature  in  their  overwhelming  influence  upon 
the  fate  of  man  in  a  beneficent  and  evil  way,  the  light 
of  the  sun,  the  flashes  of  the  thunderstorm,  the  joy  of 
great  triumphs,  the  enthusiasm  after  extraordinary 
successes,  our  trials  and  sorrow  at  the  bedside  of 
our  beloved  ones,  the  agonies  and  anxieties  of  life,  in 
one  word  definite  and  actual  realities  have  done 
much  more  than  the  idea  of  the  infinite  in  the  produc- 
tion of  religion.  I  am  aware  that  Prof.  Max  Miiller 
says  :  "  These  finite  realities  suggest  an  infinite  agent 
beyond  them. "  But  this  is  no  description  of  religion  ;  it 
is  an  interpretation  of  religious  ideas,  representing 
them  in  a  special  phase  of  development. 

The  infinite  may  have  produced  a  religious  awe  in 
a  lonely  scholar  when  he  pondered  over  the  problems 
of  its  nature  and  found  himself  unable  to  solve  them. 
And  it  may  have  stirred  a  still  deeper  religious  emo- 
tion in  the  mathematical  mind  who  succeeded  in  solv- 
ing some  of  its  problems.  But  the  same  religious  in- 
fluence must  be  attributed  to  any  other  scientific  idea. 
Was  not  Kepler  overwhelmed  with  the  grandeur  of 
the  cosmos  when  he  solved  the  riddle  of  the  mo- 
tions of  the  heavenly  bodies?  .Was  not  his  emotion 
truly  religious,  and  is  there  anything  infinite  in  his 
formulas? 

It  will  be  noticeable  that  the  infinite  as  a  properly 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  in 

religious  idea  enjoys  a  very  limited  field.  The  two 
greatest  religious  documents  are  to  my  mind  the  Deca- 
logue representing  the  Old  Testament  and  the  Lord's 
Prayer  representing  the  New  Testament ;  in  neither 
can  any  idea  of  the  infinite  be  found.  It  is  true  that 
the  Lord's  prayer  ends  with  the  clause  "for  thine  is 
the  kingdom,  and  the  power,  and  the  glory,  forever, 
Amen."  "Forever"  I  grant,  means  infinite  time.  But 
it  is  well  known  that  these  words  are  not  genuine  with 
Christ ;  they  have  been  added  by  the  Christians  of  the 
first  or  second  century  ;  and  if  they  were  genuine,  how 
incidental  is  the  idea  of  the  infinite,  how  secondary  if 
compared  with  the  momentous  propositions  of  the 
prayer  itself  !  It  appears  that  religion  would  not  suffer 
if  the  idea  of  the  infinite  were  entirely  dropped  from 
its  definition  and  Prof.  Max.  Miiller's  additional  clause 
(i.  e.  "  that  which  will  influence  the  moral  character  of 
man  ")  were  made  its  main  essence. 

The  definition  of  God  as  the  infinite  conveys  no  clear 
idea.  The  popular  view  of  the  infinite  is  very  indefi- 
nite, and  its  scientific  conception  is  a  thought-symbol 
for  a  process  never  to  be  finished.  The  scientific 
view  of  the  infinite  does  not  represent  a  complete  and 
real  thing,  but  an  incomplete  and  never  to  be  com- 
pleted function.  Suppose  that  in  measuring  the  world 
we  arrived  at  the  last  star  of  the  farthest  milky  way 
and  took  our  stand  between  the  definite  reality  behind, 
and  empty  space  before  us,  is  there  no  divinity  in  the 
finite  existences  we  have  measured,  and  is  God  living 
in  the  nothingness  of  the  infinite  space  that  lies  be- 
yond us  unmeasured  and  immeasurable? 

Let  us  define  God  as  those  realities  of  our  expe- 
rience to  which  we  have  to  comform  ;  as  those  mani- 
festations of  nature  which  we  cannot  fashion ;  as  those 


ii2  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

laws  of  cosmic  existence  which  we  have  to  obey;  and 
atheism  will  never  again  rise  to  overthrow  the  proofs 
of  an  existence  of  God.  God  is  the  authority  of  moral 
conduct,  and  religion  is  the  basis  of  morality.  All  ideas 
which  influence  the  moral  character  of  man  are  re- 
ligious, while  dogmas  are  either  religiously  indifferent, 
as  if  they  represent  ideas  having  no  bearing  upon 
moral  conduct,  or  even  deeply  irreligious,  if  they  are 
productive  of  immoral  habits.  And  one  of  the  most 
immoral  church  doctrines,  not  as  yet  entirely  aban- 
doned by  orthodox  people,  is  that  man  should  believe 
blindly.  It  is  a  sacred  religious  duty  to  investigate 
the  truth  most  scrupulously.  Religion  is  not  belief  in 
the  supernatural  as  the  theologian  of  the  old  school 
says,  nor  is  it  the  search  for  the  infinite,  as  Prof.  Max 
Miiller  says.  Religion  is  much  simpler.  It  is  our  search 
for  truth  with  the  aspiration  to  regulate  our  conduct 
in  accord  with  truth.* 

*Prof.  F.  Max  MOller  wrote  to  the  author  with  reference  to  the  above 
criticism  of  the  Infinite  as  a  religious  idea:  "  I  thank  you  for  your  article  on 
my  fourth  Lecture.  I  quite  agree  with  your  objections,  and  when  you  see  the 
whole  of  the  lectures,  you  will  find  how  carefully  I  guarded  against  this  mis- 
apprehension. The  Infinite  is  simply  the  highest  generalisation  for  all  that 
ever  formed  the  object  of  religion.  There  is  no  wider  term,  it  is  wider  even 
than  Spencer's  Unknowable,  as  I  tried  to  show.  But  here  as  elsewhere  we 
want  a  katharsis  of  language,  otherwise  we  shall  never  have  a  new  phi- 
losophy. F.  MAX  MUELLER." 


GOD,  FREEDOM,  AND  IMMORTALITY. 


KANT  showed  in  his  Critique  of  Pure  Reason  that 
the  ideas  Soul,  World,  and  God  are  'paralogisms  of  pure 
reason.'  We  can  arrive  at  these  concepts  by  a  logical 
fallacy  only.  We  may  nevertheless,  he  declared  in  his 
Critique  of  Practical  Reason,  retain  these  concepts, 
because  they  are  of  greatest  importance  for  our  prac- 
tical and  our  moral  life.  If  we  act  as  if  we  had  no 
soul,  and  as  if  no  God  existed,  we  are  more  likely  to 
go  astray  than  if  we  act  as  if  we  had  an  immortal  soul 
and  as  if  a  God  existed — a  God,  a  just  and  omnipo- 
tent judge,  who  will  reward  the  good  and  punish  the 
evil. 

Upon  the  need  of  morality  he  builds  an  ideal  world, 
the  foundations  of  which  are  the  ideas  of  Freedom  (in- 
cluding moral  responsibility),  Immortality,  and  God. 
Being  fully  conscious  of  the  fact,  that  these  ideas  are 
not  provable,  Kant  called  them  "  the  three  postulates 
of  practical  reason." 

The  conflict  between  Pure  Reason  and  Practical 
Reason  proves  that  in  Kant's  philosophy  traces  of  Du- 
alism are  preserved  which  lead  him  to  incompatible 
assertions.  He  boldly  and  honestly  lays  down  the  in- 
consistency of  his  philosophy  in  his  four  "antinomies," 
or  contradictory  statements.  Popularly  expressed,  they 
are: 


n4  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 


THESIS. 

1.  The   world   is  lim- 
ited. 

2.  The  soul  is  a  sim- 
ple substance,  and  there- 
fore immortal. 

3.  There  is  moral  free- 
dom distinct  from  the  law 
of  causality. 

4.  There  is  a  God. 


ANTITHESIS. 

i.  The  world  is  infinite. 


2.  The  soul  is  a  com- 
pound, and  therefore  de- 
structible. 

3.  There  is  no  freedom, 
but  all  is  subject  to  cau- 
sality. 

4.  There  is  no  God. 


Kant  believes  that  the  arguments  to  either  issue, 
the  positive  or  the  negative,  are  of  equal  weight. 
Thesis  as  well  as  Antithesis,  he  declares,  can  be  de- 
fended or  attacked  with  equal  force. 

Is  it  not  strange  that  a  great  man  can  fall  into  so 
great  an  error — an  error  that  is  at  the  same  time  so 
palpable  ?  Of  two  statements  that  are  contradictory, 
one  only  can  be  true.  It  is  impossible  that  both  are 
right,  or  that  the  arguments  of  either  are  correct.  Yet 
it  is  possible  that  both  are  wrong,  that  the  formula- 
tion of  the  dilemma  is  radically  incorrect, — and  is  such 
the  case  with  Kant's  antinomies. 

We  resolve  the  four  antinomies  into  the  following 
statements,  which  cannot  be  said  to  be  contradictory. 

1.  Space  (which  is  no  object,  no  palpable  thing,  but 
merely  the  possibility  of  motion  in  every  direction)  is 
infinite.     Yet  the  world,  although  immeasurable  to  us 
consists   of  a  definite   amount  of  matter  and   energy 
which  can  neither  increase  nor  decrease. 

2.  The  soul  is  a  compound  of  highest  complexity 
and  is  therefore  destructible;  but  being  a  compound  of  a 
special  form,  it  can  be  broken  and  built  again.   When 
built   again,  it  can  be  improved.     Souls  of  a  special 
kind  can  be  formed,  and  ever  nobler  ideas  can  be  im- 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE,  115 

planted  into  souls.  Thus  the  soul — a  special  compound 
of  living  thoughts,  living  in  the  organized  brain-sub- 
stance of  bodily  beings  as  real  nerve-structures — can 
continue  to  exist  even  beyond  the  death  of  the  single 
individual ;  it  can  be  propagated,  transplanted,  and 
evolved.  And  to  accomplish  this  is  the  main  object 
of  human  institutions.  There  is  no  immortality  of  the 
ego  beyond  the  clouds,  but  there  is  a  continuance  of 
soul-life  in  this  world.  The  continuance  and  higher 
development  of  soul-life  is  of  vital  importance,  and  the 
duties  of  our  present  lives  must  be  performed,  not  to 
please  or  benefit  ourselves  but  in  a  spirit  such  as  to 
enhance  the  life  of  the  race  to  come.  We  must  live 
so  that  our  soul  shall  continue  to  live  and  to  evolve  in 
future  generations. 

3.  Freedom  and  necessity  are  not  incompatible;* 
but  freedom  and  compulsion  are  contradictions.     If  a 
man  is  compelled  by  the  authorities  of  the  law  to  observe 
the  law  he  cannot  be  said  to  be  free.     But  if  the  law — 
the   good  will  to  live  according  to   the  law   and   the 
honest  intention  to   act  with  righteousness — is  a  part 
of  the  man  and  a  feature  of  his  character,   he  is  free 
while  observing  the  law.     The  actions  of  a  moral  man 
are  necessarily  moral ;  they  are  the  necessary  outcome 
of  his  free  will. 

4.  The  anthropomorphic  idea  of  God  as  a  transcend- 
ent personality  is  undoubtedly  a  paralogism  of  pure  rea- 
son;  but  the   conception  of  an  immanent  God  as  the 
cosmical  law  to  which  we  have  to  conform  in  order  to 
live  and  to  continue  to  live  in  future  generations  is  no 
paralogism,  no  logical  fallacy.     Such  a  conception  of 
God  is  at  variance  neither  with  reason  nor  experience, 
and  there  is  no  atheist  who  could  not  be  converted  to 

*  See  the  writer's  "Fundamental  Problems,"  pp.  191-196. 


n6  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

it  by  rational  argument  and  by  a  study  of  nature.  This 
God  is  not  the  personified  weakness  of  a  benevolent 
father — the  ideal  of  the  deists  who  would  fain  make 
him  as  sentimental  and  feeble  as  they  were  them- 
selves. This  God  is  the  stern  severity  of  order  and 
law — irrefragable  and  immutable  as  are  all  natural 
laws,  and  yet  at  the  same  time  as  reliable  and  as  grand, 
as  sure  and  eternal — visiting  the  iniquity  of  the  fathers 
upon  the  children  unto  the  third  and  fourth  genera- 
tion, and  showing  mercy  unto  the  thousands  of  those 
that  keep  his  commandments. 

We  thus  have  the  three  postulates  of  Kant  again, 
although  in  another  shape.  We  have  no  transcenden- 
tal God,  no  illusory  ghost-immortality,  no  freedom  that 
stands  in  contradiction  to  the  law  of  causation.  But 
we  have  the  immanent  God  of  a  moral  law  in  nature; 
we  have  the  immanent  immortality  of  a  continuance 
of  our  soul-life  beyond  death  and  the  moral  freedom 
of  responsibility  for  our  actions.  The  errors  that  were 
attached  to  these  ideas  are  done  away  with,  but  their 
ethical  value  remains  unimpaired.  They  have  ceased 
to  be  postulates  and  have  become  truths — for  now 
they  are  no  longer  paralogisms,  they  are  free  from 
contradictions  ;  they  are  real,  because  they  represent 
certain  facts  of  reality  which  can  be  verified  by  expe- 
rience. 


PROMETHEUS  AND  THE  FATE  OF  ZEUS. 


THE  Greeks  possessed  an  old  myth  which  in  phil- 
osophical depth  somewhat  resembles  the  Teutonic 
Faust.  The  story  of  Prometheus  is  told  in  different 
versions  by  Hesiod  in  his  "Theogony"  (511  et  seqq.) 
and  in  his  "Works  and  Days"  ^48  et  seqq.).  Aeschy- 
lus, the  first  of  the  three  great  Athenian  dramatists, 
gave  in  his  great  trilogy  of  the  Fire-bringer  Prome- 
theus, the  Bound  Prometheus,  and  the  Liberated 
Prometheus  a  third  and  undoubtedly  the  best,  the 
most  philosophical,  and  the  profoundest  version  of  the 
legend.  And  since  these  three  great  dramas  exist  only 
in  fragments  which  bear  witness  to  the  grandeur  of 
the  Greek  poet's  thought,  this  greatest  of  all  ideas, 
that  of  aspiring  and  conquering  man — conquering 
through  forethought — still  awaits  a  great  poet  to  give 
it  a  modern  form.  As  Goethe  created  the  final  con- 
ception of  the  Faust-myth,  so  the  poet  of  the  future, 
perhaps  still  unborn,  will  let  us  have  the  final  concep- 
tion of  the  Prometheus  legend. 

Prometheus  is  the  son  of  Themis,  and  Themis  is  the 
Goddess  of  law.  Prometheus  with  the  help  of  the 
eternal  laws  of  existence  has  acquired  the  faculty  of 
forethought.  Prometheus  means  the  man  who  thinks 
in  advance. 


n8  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

Prometheus  had  a  brother  and  his  name  was  Epi- 
metheus,  that  is  the  man  who  thinks  afterwards,  when 
it  is  too  late.  There  is  a  story  about  an  old  Gotham 
magistrate  who  had  very  wise  thoughts,  but  they  did 
not  come  to  him  until  the  session  was  over  and  all  the 
foolish  motions  of  the  fathers  of  the  town  had  passed. 
His  best  thoughts  came  when  he  walked  down  stairs 
in  the  city  hall.  This  same  kind  of  wisdom,  the  wis- 
dom of  the  staircase,  was  the  wisdom  of  Epimetheus, 
and  thus  the  two  brothers  were  very  unlike  each 
other. 

In  those  days  Zeus  kept  the  fire  for  himself ;  he 
allowed  the  sun  to  shine  upon  the  earth  and  when  he 
grew  angry  he  threw  down  his  thunderbolts  upon  oaks 
and  mountain-tops.  But  he  was  envious  and  feared 
that  man  might  become  too  powerful.  Prometheus 
foresaw  the  great  advantages  which  the  usage  of  fire 
would  have  for  mankind.  So  he  stole  the  fire  from  the 
heavens  and  brought  it  to  the  people  on  earth,  teaching 
them  how  to  build  a  hearth  and  to  use  it  wisely.  But 
Zeus'  punished  Prometheus  severely  for  his  theft,  he 
chained  him  to  a  rock  and  had  an  eagle  swoop  down 
upon  him  daily  to  devour  his  liver  which  always  grew 
again  during  the  night.  Prometheus  was  afterwards 
liberated  by  the  skill  and  courage  of  another  daring 
man — by  Hercules  who  shot  the  eagle  and  rescued  the 
sufferer. 

Why  did  Zeus  not  kill  Prometheus  ?  First  we  are 
told  that  Prometheus  was  immortal.  But  there  is 
another  reason  still.  Prometheus  knew  a  secret  which 
Zeus  did  not  foresee,  although  it  foreboded  evil  to  the 
father  of  the  gods.  This  secret,  as  we  can  surmise 
for  several  reasons,  consisted  according  to  the  old 
mythological  tradition  in  this:  Zeus  loved  a  goddess; 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  119 

her  name  was  Thetis,  and  it  was  written  in  the  books 
of  fate  that  the  son  of  Thetis  should  be  greater,  in- 
finitely greater,  than  his  father.  According  to  the 
version  of  Aeschylus,  Zeus  became  reconciled  with 
Prometheus  on  the  condition  that  he  should  reveal 
the  fatal  secret  to  him  so  that  he  might  protect  him- 
self against  the  imminent  evil.  And  we  are  told  that 
Zeus  resigned  his  love  and  ordered  Thetis  to  be 
married  to  a  mortal  man  whose  name  was  Peleus,  and 
the  son  of  Peleus  was  the  greatest  hero  of  Greek  an- 
tiquity, the  noble,  the  brave,  the  proud  Achilles. 

This  is  the  version  of  Aeschylus,  but  there  is  an- 
other version  still  left.  That  is  the  version  of  the  poet 
of  the  future.  Aeschylus  believes  that  Zeus  was  saved. 
Zeus  being  reconciled  with  Prometheus  knew  of  the 
danger  and  evaded  it.  Yet  we  now  know,  that  he 
could  not  evade  it.  Let  a  god  have  a  son  and  the  son 
will  be  greater  than  the  god,  even  though  the  son  of 
God  may  call  himself  the  son  of  man.  Says  Goethe  : 
"The  son  shall  be  greater  than  the  father," — that  is 
the  law  of  evolution,  the  law  of  life,  the  law  of  pro- 
gress. We  now  know  that  Zeus  was  actually  de- 
throned by  a  greater  God  than  himself  and  this  greater 
God  was  the  son  of  man — the  aspiring,  the  suffering, 
the  conquering  son  of  man. 

Zeus  is  dead,  but  Prometheus  is  still  living.  Who 
is  Zeus  and  where  is  Zeus  ?  Zeus  is  the  phantom-god 
of  pagan  antiquity.  Zeus  is  a  personification  of  the 
Divine  in  nature,  he  is  a  grand  picture  of  God,  but  he 
is  not  God  himself.  If  we  expect  that  the  picture  we 
have  made  of  God  is  God  himself,  if  we  imagine  him 
to  be  a  mind  like  ourselves,  we  shall  fall  into  the  same 
errors  and  pass  through  the  same  disappointments  as 
did  Prometheus.  Says  Goethe's  Prometheus  : 


I20  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

"  While  yet  a  child 
And  ignorant  of  life, 
I  turned  my  wandering  gaze 
Up  toward  the  sun,  as  if  above 
There  were  an  ear  to  hear  my  waitings 
A  heart  like  mine 
To  feel  compassion  for  distress." 

It  was  most  likely  necessary  that  Prometheus  should 
pass  through  his  errors  to  arrive  at  truth,  it  was  indis- 
pensable to  brave  the  evils  of  life  and  to  undergo 
severe  sufferings  in  order  to  conquer.  The  errors  as 
well  as  the  sufferings,  the  very  evils  of  life  are  good  in 
so  far  as  they  help  man  to  struggle  and  to  progress. 
But  in  order  to  gain  the  victory,  Prometheus  ought  to 
know  that  he  must  fight  himself ;  he  cannot  rely  upon 
the  help  of  his  phantom-god — of  a  Zeus  above  the 
clouds.  The  real  God  of  nature  is  deaf  to  the  prayers 
of  those  who  pray  in  the  hope  that  he  will  do  the  work 
for  them. 

There  is  more  divinity  in  Prometheus  than  in  Zeus. 
The  God  of  the  present  time  is  the  son  of  man  and  his 
symbol  is  the  cross,  which  means  that  the  way  of  suf- 
fering is  the  way  of  salvation,  struggle  is  the  condition 
of  victory,  the  path  of  toil  only  is  the  road  to  a  higher 
existence,  the  narrow  gate  leadeth  unto  life.  The 
Zeus- idea  of  God  is  doomed  and  an  infinitely  greater, 
•  because  truer,  idea  of  God  is  dawning  upon  mankind. 
There  is  truth  in  mythology  and  there  is  a  meaning  in 
parables,  yet  the  parable  is  told  for  the  sake  of  its 
meaning  and  the  truth  is  greater  than  mythology.  Let 
us  not  be  satisfied  with  mythology,  but  let  us  look  out 
lor  the  truth. 


ENTER  INTO  NIRVANA. 


THE  RELIGION  OF  A  FORERUNNER  OF  CHRIST. 


THE  religion  of  Buddha  hinges  upon  the  two  ideas 
Sansara  and  Nirvana. 

Sansara  is  the  bustle  of  the  world  ;  it  is  full  not 
only  of  vanity,  but  also  of  pain  and  misery  ;  it  consists 
of  the  many  little  trivialities  that  make  up  life.  It  is 
the  pursuit  of  happiness  ;  it  is  hunting  for  a  shadow 
which  the  more  eagerly  it  is  pursued  the  quicker  it 
flies. 

The  worldling  lives  in  Sansara.  He  imagines  he 
proceeds  onward  in  a  straight  line,  yet  he  moves  in  a 
narrow  circle  without  being  aware  of  it.  He  hastens 
from  desire  to  pleasure,  from  pleasure  to  satiety  and 
thence  back  to  desire. 

The  worldling  eagerly  tastes  the  pleasure,  and  if 
he  can  he  tastes  it  to  the  last,  he  intoxicates  himself 
with  it,  only  to  find  out  that  it  was  not  what  he  had 
hoped  for.  Pleasure  if  tasted  to  the  last  becomes 
stale ;  it  becomes  staler  than  its  symbol,  the  nectar  of 
the  grape  that  has  been  left  in  the  glasses  of  topers 
after  a  night's  carousal. 

What  is  the  result  of  a  life  in  Sansara  ?  Man's  feet 
will  become  sore  and  his  heart  will  be  full  of  disap- 
pointment. The  Buddhist  says:  The  circular  path  of 
the  Sansara  is  strewn  all  over  with  fiery  coals. 


122  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE 

Desire  burns  like  a  flame  and  satiety  fills  the  soul 
with  disgust.  Enjoyment,  however,  is  the  oscillation 
between  both.  Desire  is  want ;  it  is  parching  thirst  and 
pinching  hunger.  It  is  destitution,  poverty,  dearth. 
Satiety,  on  the  other  hand,  is  not  at  all  a  preferable 
state.  It  is  tedious  and  wearisome  monotony  ;  it  is  life 
without  a  purpose.  The  fulfilment  of  want  means  an 
emptiness  of  aspirations,  it  produces  the  nausea  of 
maudlin  misery,  and  the  absence  of  desire  is  felt  as 
an  actual  torture.  A  longing  rises  in  the  heart  for  the 
thirst  of  an  unsatisfied  desire  and  thus  the  pendulum 
swings  back  to  the  place  from  whence  it  came. 

And  happiness  !  What  is  the  happiness  of  a  world- 
ling ?  It  is  merely  an  imaginary  line  between  both 
extremes.  The  pendulum  that  swings  to  a  certain 
height  on  the  one  side  will  necessarily  reach  exactly 
the  same  height  on  the  other.  It  does  not  come  to 
rest  in  the  middle.  There  is  no  escape  from  this 
law,  and  if  a  man  of  the  world  be  prudent  he  will 
moderate  the  oscillations  so  as  to  diminish  the  misery. 
Not  going  to  the  highest  pitch  of  desire,  he  will  not 
be  obliged  to  drain  the  cup  of  myrrh  to  the  lees. 

Why  does  mankind  continue  to  move  in  the  circu- 
lar course  upon  the  fiery  coals  of  Sansara?  Because 
their  eyes  are  covered  with  the  veil  of  Maya.  Indi- 
vidual existence,  the  Buddhists  say,  is  a  sham,  an  il- 
lusion, a  dream  woven  of  the  subtle  stuff  of  sensations. 
Man  imagines  that  his  sensory  world  is  a  reality. 
Buddhism  teaches  that  the  world  of  the  senses  is  like 
a  veil  upon  our  eyes. 

The  veil  of  Maya  does  not  exactly  deceive  man  ; 
on  the  contrary,  the  veil  is  the  means  by  which  man 
knows  whatsoever  he  knows  of  truth.  If  the  veil  were 
not  upon  man's  eyes,  he  would  see  nothing,  he  would 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE  123 

be  blinded,  as  was  Moses  in  the  presence  of  God.  In 
itself  the  world  of  sensations  is-not  a  deceit,  if  it  is  not 
made  so  by  being  misunderstood. 

The  error,  it  is  true,  is  natural.  All  errors  origi- 
nate according  to  natural  laws  ;  so  did,  for  instance, 
the  ideas  of  the  flatness  of  the  earth  and  of  the  ap- 
parent motions  of  the  heavenly  bodies.  But  if  we 
err,  the  fault  is  not  with  the  facts  that  lead  astray, 
but  with  us.  We  deceive  ourselves  by  our  own  error. 
The  veil  of  Maya  makes  us  feel  our  own  being  in 
contradistinction  to  that  of  all- existence ;  and  this 
"we,"  the  "I,"  the  ego  in  its  separateness  is  a  self- 
deception.  We  live  the  dream  of  a  pseudo-existence. 

From  the  growth  of  the  ego  rise  the  self-seeking 
yearnings.  Egoism  begets  egotism,  and  passions  are 
the  fruits  of  egotism.  Passions  produce  pain  and  bring 
upon  man  the  many  evils  of  his  earthly  miseries. 

Is  there  no  escape  from  Sansara  ?  Yes  there  is  ! 
The  illusion  that  considers  individual  being  as  a  real- 
ity can  be  destroyed.  The  veil  of  Maya  can  be  lifted  ; 
which  means,  that  its  nature  can  be  understood.  In  this 
way  shall  we  recognize  the  error  of  egoism.  There  is 
no  ego  in  the  sense  of  a  separate  and  individual  exist- 
ence, and  with  this  truth  it  will  dawn  upon  us  that  the 
regulation  of  action,  as  if  there  were  an  ego,  is.  a  fatal 
mistake.  This  mistake  lies  at  the  bottom  of  all  the 
wretchedness  of  Sansara,  and  we  can  free  ourselves 
only,  so  teaches  Buddhism,  by  enlightenment,  by  un- 
derstanding the  truth,  by  abandoning  the  illusion.  He 
who  has  attained  enlightenment  is  a  Buddha.  Buddha 
means  the  enlightened  one. 

The  highest  stage  of  Buddhist  perfection,  the 
stage  where  a  man  becomes  a  Buddha  is  called  Nir- 
vana. Nirvana  means  extinction.  As  a  flame  is  ex- 


I24  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

tinguished  and  ceases  to  be,  so  the  ignis  fatuus  of  the 
ego  can  also  be  extinguished.  The  egoistic  error  being 
extinguished,  we  enter  Nirvana. 

Nirvana  means  peace  ;  it  means  liberation  from  il- 
lusion, and  thus  it  brings  a  freedom  of  desire. 

Nirvana  is  not  annihilation.  It  is  the  annihilation 
of  error  only  ;  and  in  this  respect  it  reveals  to  him 
who  lives  in  Nirvana,  the  higher  life  of  true  reality. 
In  Buddhistic  literature  Nirvana  is  sometimes  charac- 
terized in  its  negative  aspect  as  an  extinction  of  sham- 
existence,  and  sometimes  again  in  its  positive  aspect 
as  the  life  of  truth  and  immortality.  It  is  often  de- 
scribed in  most  positive  terms  as  true  happiness,  as 
a  state  of  perfect  bliss,  as  living  in  the  realm  of  eter- 
nity, where  there  is  no  pain,  no  misery,  no  death. 
This  appears  to  be  contradictory  to  its  literal  meaning, 
but  it  seems  to  me  that  it  is  not. 

As  soon  as  we  recognize  the  error  of  individual  ex- 
istence, we  lift  ourselves  above  the  narrowness  of  ego- 
ism. We  can  in  this  state  of  mind  contemplate  our 
own  fate  from  a  higher  standpoint ;  we  can  easily  and 
we  do  willingly  give  up  our  pursuit  of  happiness  ;  we 
can  live  in  this  world  as  though  we  were  not  living. 
Our  "we,"  our  "I,"  our  "ego,"  the  separateness  of 
our  individuality  has  ceased  to  be,  and  the  life  of  the 
universe  lives  in  us.  We  have  become  stewards  of 
cosmic  existence.  In  this  way  our  joys  as  well  as  our 
pains  are  transfigured  and  a  divine  peace  will  inherit 
our  souls  that  are  now  free  from  desire. 

Pain,  together  with  the  vanity  of  pleasure,  will 
diminish  in  the  degree  of  the  enlightenment  attained. 
This  is  a  law  that  is  demonstratable  in  such  exact 
sciences  as  physiology  and  biology.  Our  scientists 
inform  us  that  the  use  of  the  sensorv  nerves  blunts  feel- 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  125 

ing  and  favors  intellection.  The  highest  sensory  nerve, 
in  which  the  intellectual  element  is  comparatively 
most  perfect,  is  the  optic  nerve.  The  retina  of  the 
optic  nerve,  while  perceiving  the  differences  of  infinit- 
esimally  small  fractions  in  ether-waves,  has  become  in- 
sensible to  pleasurable  as  well  as  to  painful  feelings. 

The  idea  of  Nirvana,  it  must  be  said,  is  of  a  most 
dangerous  character,  if  it  is  conceived  as  mere  pes- 
simism in  its  negative  features  alone.  It  will  in  that 
case  lead  to  apathy,  to  destruction  and  death.  Did 
perhaps  Gautama  Buddha  himself  conceive  Nirvana 
in  a  spirit  of  negativism  ?  Perhaps  he  did.  At  least  it 
is  certain  that  many  of  his  disciples  did  ;  for  the  Bud- 
dhism of  the  East  has  produced  most  fatal  effects  of  in- 
difference and  retrogression  upon  those  races  that  em- 
braced its  faith. 

If  Nirvana  is  conceived  in  its  negativeness,  Bud- 
dhism will  be  a  dualistic  religion.  In  that  case  we  have 
existence  and  non-existence,  Sansara  and  Nirvana, 
sham-reality  and  nothingness.  If,  however,  Sansara 
is  conceived  as  an  illusion  and  Nirvana  as  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  illusion,  we  need  not  resort  to  the  nihilistic 
world  conception  of  a  dual  nothingness ;  we  need  not 
derive  from  the  Buddhistic  premises  the  negative 
ethics  of  destroying  life  together  with  the  illusion  of 
egoism. 

One  of  the  most  important  truths  proclaimed  by 
Buddha,  was  the  doctrine  that  man  can  enter  into 
Nirvana  while  he  lives.  When  Gautama  had  found 
redemption  from  the  evils  of  existence,  he  resolved  to 
announce  his  gospel  to  the  world.  He  went  to  Benares 
and  on  the  way  he  met  one  of  his  old  acquaintances 
who  asked  him  : 

"  What  is  it  that  makes  you  so  glad  and  yet  so  calm  ?  ' 


126  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

Buddha  answered  : 

"I  have  found  the  path  of  peace,  and  am  now  free  from  all 
desires." 

Little  interested  in  Gautama's  bliss,  his  acquaint- 
ance further  enquired  where  he  was  going;  and  we  are 
told  in  the  Buddhist  legend  : 

The  Enlightened  one  answered  : 

"  I  am  now  going  to  the  city  of  Benares  to  establish  the  king- 
dom of  righteousness,  to  give  light  to  those  enshrouded  in  dark- 
ness, and  open  the  gate  of  immortality  to  men." 

He  gave  up  fasting,  for  he  looked  upon  the  op- 
pression of  the  body  as  a  vain  effort  of  conquering  the 
evils  of  existence.  He  abandoned  asceticism  as  a 
means  of  salvation. 

It  seems  strange  that  life  can  be  gained  only  through 
annihilation  of  self;  immortality  is  possible  only  through 
the  death  of  the  transient  and  the  happiness  of  eter- 
nal peace  will  come  with  the  crucifixion  of  the  desire 
for  happiness.  It  seems  strange,  but  it  is  not.  How- 
ever, it  is  natural  that  the  deeper  a  truth  is,  the  more 
contradictory  it  will  appear  to  those  who  are  prisoners 
still  in  the  bondage  of  error. 

Buddha's  doctrines  were  misunderstood,  misinter- 
preted, and  misused.  Yet  they  have  given  strength 
in  temptation,  comfort  in  misery,  peace  in  tribula- 
tion, solace  in  death  to  many  millions  of  toiling,  as- 
piring and  suffering  human  hearts. 


THE  HUMAN  SOUL 


THE  practical  purpose  of  Religion  is  the  salvation 
of  human  souls.  When  Jesus  was  walking  by  the  Sea 
of  Galilee,  he  saw  two  brethren,  Simon,  called  Peter, 
and  Andrew,  his  brother,  casting  a  net  into  the  sea: 
for  they  were  fishers.  And  he  sayeth  unto  them  :  "  Fol- 
low me  and  I  will  make  you  fishers  of  men." 

And  so  shall  ministers  be  fishers  of  men  to  save 
human  souls.  But  how  can  they  save  human  souls 
when  we  are  told  that  modern  psychology  is  a  psychol- 
ogy without  a  soul  ?  The  immortal  soul,  consisting 
of  a  trancendent  substance,  as  it  was  supposed  to  be 
by  the  old  schools  of  orthodox  theology,  does  not  exist. 
There  is  no  such  a  thing  as  an  eternal  and  mystical 
ego  which  continues  to  live  even  if  the  body  dies. 

The  great  Scotch  philosopher,  Hume,  said  : 

"  As  for  me,  whenever  I  contemplate  what  is  inmost  in  what  I 
call  my  own  self,  I  always  come  in  contact  with  such  or  such  spe- 
cial perception  as  of  cold,  heat,  light  or  shadow,  love  or  hate, 
pleasure  or  pain.  I  never  come  unawares  upon  my  mind  existing 
in  a  state  void  of  perceptions  :  I  never  observe  aught  save  percep- 
tion  If  any  one,  after  serious  reflection  and  without  preju- 
dices, thinks  he  has  any  other  idea  of  himself,  I  confess  that  I  can 
reason  no  longer  with  him.  The  best  I  can  say  for  him  is  that  per- 
haps he  is  right  no  less  than  I,  and  that  on  this  point  our  natures 
are  essentially  different.  It  is  possible  that  he  may  perceive  some- 
thing simple  and  permanent  which  he  calls  himself,  but  as  for  me 
I  am  quite  sure  I  possess  no  such  principle."  * 

*  Hume,  Works,  Vol.  I,  p.  321. 


128  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

Modern  psychology  has  fully  adopted  Hume's  posi- 
tion. If  a  man  speaks  about  himself,  he  means  per- 
haps his  body,  or  a  certain  part  of  his  body.  In  an- 
other case  he  may  mean  a  special  idea  of  his  mind.  It 
is  that  idea  which  at  the  time  is  prominent  in  his  soul 
and  which  he  pronounces  as  his  opinion.  Formerly  it 
was  supposed  that  the  ego  who  pronounces  the  opinion, 
"I  say  this  and  I  say  that,"  was  one  thing,  and  the 
opinion  adopted  by  that  ego  another  thing.  And  this 
ego  was  supposed  to  form  the  basis  of  man's  person- 
ality, its  supernatural  unity.  Modern  psychology  now 
contends  that  this  ego  is  identical  with  its  opinion ; 
the  "I  say"  is  identical  with  the  idea  pronounced  ;  or, 
in  other  words,  the  ego  and  its  contents  are  one. 
Accordingly,  our  ego  is  constantly  changing,  for  it  is 
now  this,  now  that  idea,  which  is  prominent  in  our 
mind.  An  ego  by  itself,  a  thinking  subject  without  an 
idea,  a  perception,  or  sensation  to  be  thought  or  felt, 
does  not  exist ;  and  our  soul  is  nothing  but  the  sum 
total  of  all  the  ideas  that  live  in  our  brain. 

Very  well  then  !  The  ego,  as  a  thing  independent 
of  its  contents,  is  a  sham  and  always  was  a  sham.  Can 
a  man  be  afraid  of  losing  that  which  he  never  pos- 
sessed ?  Certainly  not !  Renounce  that  ego,  and  aban- 
don your  anxiety  about  its  preservation. 

The  matter,  however,  is  different  concerning  the 
preservation  of  your  soul.  Is  the  soul  of  man  less  valu- 
able since  it  has  been  proved  that  it  lacks  the  unity 
which  the  ego  was  supposed  to  afford  to  it.  Not  in  the 
least !  Our  soul,  whatever  it  be,  remains  as  valuable 
and  precious  as  ever ;  if  it  is  the  sum  total  of  our 
thoughts  merely,  yet  that  is  the  sum  total  of  our  intel- 
lectual and  moral  existence.  The  ideas  which  in 
their  totality  constitute  ourselves,  are  the  elements 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  129 

that  condition  our  actions,  and  our  actions  shape 
our  future  ;  they  will  lead  us  to  higher  planes,  or  they 
will  undo  us  and  wreck  our  lives.  Thus  the  purpose  of 
religion,  to  save  the  souls  of  man,  it  seems,  becomes 
rather  more  urgent  than  before. 

Science  seems  to  destroy  Religion.  But  it  does  not  ; 
it  destroys  its  errors  only.  Indeed,  it  becomes  the 
basis  of  Religion,  and  Religion  based  on  Science  will 
be  truer,  purer,  and  grander.  When  our  long  cherished 
errors  fade  away  before  the  light  of  science,  life  appears 
so  empty  and  truth  seems  void  of  comfort.  Let  us, 
however,  not  be  dismayed  !  After  all,  truth  is  better 
than  error  and  a  deeper  insight  always  proves  in  the 
end  that  the  truths  taught  by  science  are  by  far  nobler 
and  greater  than  the  loftiest  fiction  and  fairy-tales  of 
our  imagination  can  be. 

Let  us  but  consider  how  easily  souls  are  lost !  The 
purpose  of  religion  becomes  more  imperative  when  we 
bear  in  mind  the  fact  that  souls  can  grow  and  expand. 
We  can  implant  in  the  souls  of  men  new  thoughts 
and  purer  ideas,  which  will  preserve  them  in  tempta- 
tions and  guide  them  through  the  many  allurements 
and  dangers  of  the  world.  We  can  by  instruction  and 
example  transmit  to  the  minds  of  children  our  own 
souls,  and  thus  build  again  our  characters  in  the  grow- 
ing generation. 

Goethe  said:  'The  son  should  be  better  than  the 
father';  and  yet  the  son  can  be  better  only  if  the 
father  rears  the  better  part  of  himself  in  the  soul  of 
his  son.  Thus  humanity  will  progress,  it  will  advance 
more  and  more  in  the  triumphant  march  of  evolu- 
tion. 

The  child  that  lies  in  the  cradle  possesses  a  most  pre- 
cious soul.  But  the  infant's  mind  is  a  promise  rather 


1 3o  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

than  a  real  and  full  grown  soul ;  it  is  the  bud  not  the 
fruit;  it  is  a  dear  hope,  a  potentiality,  but  not  the  harvest 
of  maturity.  The  most  valuable  parts  of  his  soul,  the 
elements  of  manly  strength  and  of  moral  character  that 
will  give  stability  to  his  will  and  direction  to  his  pur- 
pose, must  be  implanted  into  the  tender  mind  of  the 
child.  All  that  which  makes  of  man  a  human  being, 
must  be  grafted  upon  the  inherited  predisposition  of 
his  mind.  And  how  easily  is  that  purity  lost,  how 
quickly  is  that  innocence  gone  which  appears  as  the 
sweetest  charm  in  the  beaming  eyes  of  children.  When 
they  come  in  contact  with  the  lower  tendencies  of  life, 
how  readily  evil  thoughts  enter  their  minds  and  impure 
ideas  poison  their  souls  and  the  habits  of  their  lives. 
Therefore  David  prayed,  "  Create  in  me  a  clean  heart, 
O  God,  and  renew  a  right  spirit  within  me." 

The  soul  of  man  is  not  immortal  in  the  sense  that 
matter  and  energy  are  now  known  to  be  indestruc- 
tible. On  the  contrary,  the  soul  of  man  is  mortal.  But 
seeing  that  we  can  make  it  immortal,  that  we  can  pre- 
serve our  souls  even  after  death  in  the  coming  genera- 
tions, that  we  can  implant  our  spirit  in  our  children, 
the  purpose  of  religion  grows  in  its  scope  and  im- 
portance. 

The  pure,  the  noble,  the  great,  the  moral  thought 
will  live  and  will  exercise  upon  everyone  a  wholesome 
influence.  If  our  soul  is  the  sum  total  of  our  hopes 
and  wishes,  of  our  aspirations  and  longings,  of  our  con- 
cepts and  our  ideas,  let  us  take  heed  and  beware  not 
to  introduce  evil  thoughts,  but  let  us  receive  into  our 
soul  the  love  of  truth  and  the  eagerness  of  performing 
that  which  is  right  and  just.  This  is  the  object  of  re- 
ligion ;  and  this  is  the  sum  total  of  the  religion  of  man- 
kind. 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  131 

Bad  thoughts  as  well  as  good  thoughts  are  like 
leaven  ;  and  a  little  leaven  leaveneth  the  whole  lump. 
Let  the  religion  of  humanity  thus  enter  your  souls  not 
as  words  without  a  meaning  that  slumber  like  a  dead 
letter  in  your  mind,  but  as  a  power  of  enthusiasm 
which,  like  the  leaven  in  meal,  pervades  all  your 
thoughts  and  sentiments  until  the  whole  be  leavened 
and  changed  into  another  and  better  substance. 

Morality  is  that  which  preserves  our  soul,  and  it  is 
the  moral  part  of  our  soul  only  which  we  wish  to  pre- 
serve in  our  children.  Immorality  is  that  which  leads 
to  wreck  and  ruin,  but  morality  makes  life  everlasting. 

The  immortality  thus  acquired  is  greatly  different 
from  the  old  dogmatic  view  of  immortality.  The  old  view 
of  immortality  is  a  chimera  of  Utopian  character,  the 
new  view  is  a  truth  established  by  science,  a  truth  that 
can  be  verified.  The  old  view  of  immortality  is  a  holy 
legend,  and  the  best  that  can  be  said  of  it  is  this,  that 
it  foreboded  the  true  view  of  immortality  which  teaches 
that  there  is  a  continuation  of  our  soul-life  after  death. 
This  continuation,  however,  is  not  an  inherent  quality 
of  the  soul,  nor  is  it  given  to  us  as  an  act  of  mercy. 
The  continuation  of  our  soul-life  must  be  acquired  by 
our  own  efforts,  it  must  be  worked  for,  it  must  be 
earned  by  hard  struggles,  and  it  must  be  deserved. 

I  see  all  the  world  gathering  earthly  treasures  to 
leave  an  inheritance  to  their  children.  But  I  see  few 
who  care  for  their  souls.  All  interests  are  taken  up  with 
the  desire  for  riches,  but  the  most  valuable  riches  which 
you  might  possess,  remain  neglected.  You  provide  for 
meat  and  raiment  and  other  necessities  of  life,  but  you 
disregard  to  provide  for  the  immortality  of  your  soul. 

What  are  all  the  possessions  of  man  if  he  is  not 
wise  enough  to  use  them  well,  and  what  is  power  and 


ij2  HOMll.Il:S  ()/'  .V(7/-,  A '('A. 

earthly  blessings  if  the  men  to  whose  lot  they  have 
fallen,  cease  to  progress  or  even  commence  to  degen- 
erate ?  What  is  an  inheritance  left  to  your  children,  be  it 
ever  so  great,  if  you  disregard  the  education  of  their 
souls?  The  word  of  Christ  will  forever  remain  a  great 
truth:  "What  shall  it  profit  a  man,  if  he  shall  gain 
the  whole  world  and  lose  his  own  soul?"  (MARK 
vin.  36.) 


THE  UNITY  OF  THE  SOUL. 


THE  main  difference  that  obtains  between  the  old 
and  the  new  psychology  concerns  the  unity  of  the 
soul.  The  old  psychology  considers  the  soul  as  an 
indivisible  being  whose  centre  is  found  in  the  ego. 
This  ego-entity  is  said  to  be  the  subject  of  the  psy- 
chical states  ;  it  is  the  subject  in  the  original  sense  of 
the  word  ;  i.  e.  that  which  underlies.  The  soul,  ac- 
cording to  this  view,  is  not  the  feelings  and  the 
thoughts  which  ensoul  a  human  being,  but  it  is  a  mys- 
terious something  which  is  in  possession  of  feelings 
and  thoughts,  and  the  nature  of  the  mysterious  some- 
thing, of  the  underlying  subject,  is  unknown  to  us. 

Modern  psychology  does  not  consider  the  soul  as 
an  indivisible  being.  The  soul  is  not  an  ego-entity, 
a  subject,  that  has  feelings  and  ideas,  but  these  feel- 
ings and  ideas  are  actual  parts  of  the  soul.  A  man's 
soul  is  the  totality  of  his  feelings,  of  his  thoughts,  of 
his  ideals. 

This  view  may  easily  and  wrongly  be  interpreted 
as  if  the  soul  were  simply  a  heap  of  feelings,  as  if  no 
unity  existed  and  as  if  the  ideas  dwelling  together  in 
one  and  the  same  brain  were  like  a  bag  of  peas, 
which  have  no  connection,  no  bond  of  union,  among 
themselves.  This  is  not  so.  The  feelings,  ideas,  and 


i34  HOMILIES  OP  SCIENCE. 

ideals  in  a  man  form  indeed  a  unity — only  this  unity 
is  a  hierarchical  system,  it  is  a  unity  of  arrangement 
and  does  not  mean  that  the  soul  is  an  indivisible  unit 
or  a  kind  of  psychic  atom.  This  truth  can  most 
clearly  be  expressed  by  contrasting  the  two  views  in 
two  German  words  :  The  soul  is  not  an  Einheit,  but 
an  Einheitlichkeit ;  not  a  unit,  but  a  unification. 

And  the  unity  of  the  soul  produced  by  unification 
is  by  no  means  an  indifferent  quality.  The  unity 
of  the  soul,  I  feel  almost  constrained  to  say,  is  the 
soul  of  the  soul.  The  way  in  which  certain  ideas  are 
combined  in  a  unity  constitutes  the  most  individual 
and  most  remarkable  and  also  the  most  characteristic 
feature  of  a  personality.  Also  the  energy  of  nerve- 
action,  the  vigor  with  which  the  different  ideas  re- 
spond to  their  stimuli  is  of  incalculable  importance. 

Suppose  we  could  put  together  the  soul  of  a  man 
from  a  given  number  of  ideas  as  we  put  together  a  mo- 
saic from  a  given  number  of  colored  stones.  The  stones 
and  their  colors,  their  brightness,  their  shape  and  the 
variety  of  their  colors  are  of  importance,  but  the  pat- 
tern will  after  all  make  the  picture  of  the  mosaic.  The 
same  ideas  are  put  into  the  minds  of  thirty  or  forty 
children  in  one  and  the  same  class-room,  but  how  dif- 
ferently do  their  minds  develop  !  Even  children  of  the 
same  parents  who  live  in  the  same  surroundings  and 
under  the  same  conditions,  receiving  the  same  in- 
struction and  having  before  their  eyes  the  same  exam- 
ples, will  develop  quite  distinct  and  divergent  indi- 
vidualities. The  very  same  thoughts  in  two  different 
minds  do  not  necessarily  produce  a  sameness  of  soul. 
In  one  mind  everything  may  be  methodically  ar- 
ranged, so  that  on  the  proper  occasion  the  proper 
thoughts  turn  up  at  once  and  all  the  ideas  form  a 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  135 

system,  so  that  order  reigns  everywhere.  Again  in 
another  mind  there  may  be  the  very  same  thought- 
material,  yet  order  is  lacking,  confusion  prevails, 
everything  stands  topsy-turvy  as  if  the  brain  were  an 
old  lumber-room  in  which  things  have  been  set  aside 
without  any  plan  of  consideration. 

It  is  wonderful  how  rich  the  possibilities  of  soul- 
patterns,  so  to  speak,  are  !  We  cannot  say  that  this  one 
and  this  one  only  is  the  true  ideal  soul,  for,  provided 
that  those  indispensable  soul-structures  which  con- 
stitute tfte  humanity  of  a  man  are  not  lacking,  we 
may  have  and  indeed  we  do  have,  an  unlimited  variety 
of  personalities,  the  beauties  of  each  being  peculiar  to 
themselves. 

People  often  show  a  tendency  to  classify  the  per- 
sonalities of  ^roat  men  in  higher  and  lower  classes 
asking  such  questions  as  these  :  Who  was  greater 
Shakespeare  or  Goethe  ?  Plato  or  Aristotle  ?  Bis- 
mark  or  Moltke  ?  The  answer  is,  we  cannot  measure 
the  greatness  of  mind  by  a  scale  so  as  to  have  the 
great  men  of  thought  and  action  classified  by  degrees 
as  number  one,  two,  three,  etc. 

The  soul  of  man,  being  the  organisation  of  his 
ideas,  is  too  subtle  a  substance, — indeed  we  should  not 
even  call  it  so  for  it  is  form  and  not  substance — the 
soul  of  man  is  too  subtle  to  be  weighed  or  measured, 
and  the  worth  of  a  noble  soul  is  so  peculiar,  so  unique 
that,  irrespective  of  its  shortcomings  which  we  must 
expect  even  great  men  to  have,  we  can  compare  one 
soul  with  other  souls  only  in  order  to  set  them  off  by 
contrast  and  to  appreciate  their  qualities  by  contrast, 
but  we  must  recognise  that  each  soul  possesses  a  spe- 
cial charm  of  its  own,  each  soul  is  an  individuality 


136  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

which  as  such  is  not  classifiable  as  higher  or  lower, 
better  or  worse  than  other  individualities. 

Individuality  being  a  natural  and  also  a  most  val- 
uable feature  of  a  man's  soul, it  is  our  duty  to  respect 
individuality.  Every  man  has  a  right  to  be  individ- 
ual provided  the  traits  of  his  individuality  do  not 
come  in  conflict  with  the  rights  of  his  fellow-beings. 
And  the  application  of  this  right  in  educational  affairs 
is  greater  still.  We  are  bound  to  respect  the  indi- 
vidualities of  children  also.  Parents,  educators,  and 
teachers  have  to  observe  and  study  the  characters  of 
the  souls  entrusted  to  their  care.  They  have  to  prune 
and  guide  the  growth  of  individualities  wherever 
whims  and  vagaries  arise,  yet  they  should  do  so  with 
due  discrimination  and  with  a  becoming  respect  for 
the  individuality  of  the  growing  minds. 


GHOSTS. 


THE  Norwegian  poet  Henrik  Ibsen  has  written  a 
most  awe-inspiring  drama  under  the  mysterious  title 
"Ghosts."  Does  this  most  modern  author  believe  in 
spirits?  Does  he  take  us  into  a  haunted  house? 
Are  not  ghosts  and  haunted  houses  left  as  a  survival 
only  ?  O  no  !  The  ghosts  of  which  Henrik  Ibsen 
speaks  are  everywhere  ;  they  are  not  exceptional  cases ; 
for  we  ourselves  are  visited  by  the  spirits  of  former 
ages  ;  our  brain  is  haunted  by  ghosts.  It  is  full  of  the 
proclivities,  the  dispositions,  the  ideas,  and  the  sins  of 
our  ancestors. 

Mrs.  Alving,  the  widow  of  a  dissolute  husband, 
and  mother  of  a  son  whose  life  has  been  poisoned  by 
his  father's  sin,  witnesses  her  son's  behavior  in  the 
adjoining  room.  It  is  the  exact  repetition  of  a  scene 
in  which  her  husband  had  played  her  son's  role  some 
twenty  years  ago.  There  is  his  ghost  reappearing.  In 
considering  the  weighty  seriousness  of  the  truth,  that 
we  inherit,  not  only  the  character  of  our  ancestors, 
but  also  the  curses  of  their  sins ;  that  all  our  institu- 
tions and  habits  are  full  of  ideas  inherited  from  a  dead 
past,  she  says  :  "  I  am  afraid  of  myself,  because  there 
is  in  me  something  of  a  ghost-like  inherited  tendency 
of  which  I  can  never  free  myself I  almost  think 


138  1IOMIL1KS  OP  SCIENCE.    . 

we  are  all  of  us  ghosts.  It  is  not  only  what  we  have 
inherited  from  father  and  mother  that  reappears  in  us, 
it  is  all  kinds  of  dead  old  beliefs  and  things  of  that 
sort.  These  ghosts  are  not  the  living  substance  of 
our  brain,  but  they  are  there  nevertheless  and  we 
cannot  get  rid  of  them.  When  I  take  up  a  news- 
paper to  read,  it  is  as  though  I  saw  ghosts  speaking 
in  between  the  lines.  There  must  be  ghosts  all  over 
the  country.  They  must  be  as  thick  as  the  sands  of 
the  sea." 

It  is  perfectly  and  literally  true  that  our  soul  is 
haunted  by  ghosts  ;  nay,  our  entire  soul  consists  of 
ghosts.  Our  brain  is  the  trysting  place  where  they 
meet  and  live ;  where  they  grow  and  combine,  and  in 
their  combinations  they  propagate,  they  create  new 
thoughts  which  according  to  their  nature  will  be  be- 
neficent or  baneful. 

What  are  these  ghosts?  They  are  our  experiences, 
the  impressions  of  our  surroundings  upon  the  sentient 
living  substance  of  our  existence.  They  are  the  reac- 
tions that  take  place  upon  the  impressions  of  our  sur- 
roundings ;  they  are  our  yearnings  and  cravings  ;  they 
are  our  thoughts  and  imaginations.  They  are  our 
errors  and  vices,  our  hopes  and  our  ideals. 

Henrik  Ibsen  shows  that  the  ghosts  which  are  the 
inherited  sins  of  our  fathers  lead  unto  death.  What 
an  overwhelming  and  horrific  scene  is  the  end  of  the 
drama,  where  the  son  asks  his  mother  to  hand  him 
the  poison  in  case  the  awful  disease  will  pass  upon 
him  which  will  soften  his  brain  and  spread  the  eternal 
night  of  imbecility  over  his  soul.  The  mother  in  her 
anxiety  to  calm  her  son's  wild  fancies,  promises  to  do 
so:  "Here  is  my  hand  upon  it,"  she  says,  with  a 
trembling  voice:  "I  will — if  it  becomes  necessary. 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  139 

But  it  will  not  become  necessary.  No,  no  !  It  will 
never  become  a  possibility." 

There  is  a  law  of  the  conservation  of  matter  and 
energy ;  but  there  is  also  a  law  of  the  conservation  of 
the  stuff  that  ghosts  are  made  of.  The  law  holds  good 
not  only  in  the  material  world,  but  in  the  spiritual 
world  also.  Every  vice  transmits  its  curse ;  and  the 
moment  comes  when  the  unfortunate  mother  has  to 
face  the  fatal  attack  of  the  terrible  disease. 

The  heroine  of  the  drama,  the  innocent  and 
wretched  mother  had  sought  help  of  the  clergyman — 
the  man  whom  she  had  loved.  When  her  husband 
had  betrayed  her,  had  poisoned  her  in  her  youth,  she 
fled  to  him  in  wild  excitement  and  cried  :  "  Here  I 
am,  take  me  !  "  But  the  clergyman's  stern  virtue  had 
turned  her  away  from  his  door,  and  he  prevailed  upon 
her  to  remain  a  dutiful  wife  to  her  vicious  husband. 
She  had  tried  to  find  comfort  in  the  religious  injunc- 
tions which  he  preached  to  her.  She  lived  a  life  in 
obedience  to  what  he  represented  as  her  duty.  But 
now  she  says  to  him  :  "  I  began  to  examine  your  teach- 
ing in  the  seams.  I  only  wished  to  undo  a  single 
stitch,  but  when  I  had  got  that  undone,  the  whole 
thing  came  to  pieces,  and  then  I  found  that  it  was  all 
chain-stitch  sewing-machine  work." 

The  distressed  woman  feels  only  the  curse  of  law 
and  order  which  have  been  invented  for  the  salvation 
of  mankind.  Her  experience  leads  her  to  trust  rather 
in  anarchy  than  in  the  threadbare  superstition  which 
our  generation  has  in  favor  of  the  letter  of  the  law. 
The  sternness  of  virtue  cannot  save  us,  nor  our  blind 
obedience  to  sanctified  traditions.  She  exclaims : 
'•'  What  nonsense  all  that  is  about  law  and  order.  I 
often  think  it  is  that  which  exactly  causes  all  the  mis- 


1 40  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

cries  there  are  in  the  world.  I  can  no  longer  endure 
these  bonds ;  I  cannot !  I  must  work  my  way  out  to 
freedom  !  " 

Here  lies  the  cure  of  the  disease.  We  must  work 
our  way  out  to  freedom.  The  simple  method  of  shak- 
ing off  law  and  order  will  only  increase  our  troubles. 
We  must  learn  to  understand  the  nature  of  ourselves. 
By  patient  work  alone  can  we  exorcise  the  evil  spirits 
that  haunt  our  souls  ;  and  we  can  nourish  and  foster 
those  other  spirits  which  shower  blessings  upon  our 
lives  and  the  lives  of  our  children.  We  cannot  escape 
the  natural  law  which,  inviolate,  regulates  the  growth 
of  our  souls  ;  but  we  can  accommodate  ourselves  to 
the  law  and  the  same  law,  that  works  disaster  and 
death,  will  produce  happiness  and  life. 

Superabundance  of  life  gives  a  power  that  might 
produce  great  and  noble  results.  But  when  the  life  is 
stagnant  as  was  that  of  Mrs.  Alving's  husband,  a  vigo- 
rous youth  exuberant  in  strength  and  health,  an  un- 
satisfiable  craving  for  pleasure  takes  the  place  of  a 
want  of  activity;  and  instead  of  useful  work,  vicious 
habits  are  produced.  The  germ  of  many  diseases  is 
a  morbid  pursuit  of  enjoyment.  Pleasure  is  made  the 
aim  of  life,  leading  astray  step  by  step  into  the  abyss 
of  misery  and  death.  Not  that  happiness  and  pleasures 
were  wrong  !  But  it  is  wrong  to  make  of  them  the 
purpose  of  life.  Let  happiness  be  the  accompani- 
ment of  the  performance  of  duty  and  happiness  will 
follow  as  the  shadow  follows  the  body.  If  we  pursue 
happiness,  we  turn  our  back  upon  the  sun  of  life  and 
we  shall  never  find  either  satisfaction  or  happiness. 


* 
*  * 


The  law  of  the   conservation  of  soul-life  with  its 
blessings  and  its  curses  has  not  only  a  gloomy  side,  it 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  141 

has  also  a  bright  side,  and  it  behooves  us  when  con- 
sidering our  heir-loom  of  curses,  to  remember  that 
they  are  small  in  comparison  to  the  grand  inheritance 
of  blessings  which  have  come  to  us  from  thousands  of 
generations.  What  is  all  our  activity,  our  doing,  and 
achieving,  our  dearest  ideals — what  are  they  but  the 
torch  of  life  handed  down  from  our  ancestors  ?  Gustav 
Freytag,  the  German  novelist,  might  also  have  called 
almost  all  his  novels  "Ghosts."  Especially  the  "Lost 
Manuscript"  and  the  series  of  novels  called  "The  An- 
cestors" are  studies  illustrative  of  the  same  truth.  Yet 
while  Ibsen  paints  the  dark  side  only  of  the  law  of  the 
conservation  of  ideas,  Gustav  Freytag  paints  the  dark 
and  Ihe  bright  sides.  Gustav  Freytag  says  : 

"It  is  well  that  from  us  men  usually  remains  concealed,  what 
is  inheritance  from  the  remote  past,  and  what  the  independent 
acquisition  of  our  own  existence  ;  since  our  life  would  become  full 
of  anxiety  and  misery,  if  we,  as  continuations  of  the  people  of  the 
past,  had  perpetually  to  reckon  with  the  blessings  and  curses  which 
former  times  leave  hanging  over  the  problems  of  our  own  existence. 
But  it  is  indeed  a  joyous  labor,  at  times,  by  a  retrospective  glance 
into  the  past,  to  bring  into  fullest  consciousness  the  fact  that 
many  of  our  successes  and  achievements  have  only  been  made  pos- 
sible through  the  possessions  that  have  come  to  us  from  the  lives 
of  our  parents,  and  through  that  also  which  the  previous  ancestral 
life  of  our  family  has  accomplished  and  produced  for  us." 

We  have  to  bear  the  evil  consequences  of  the 
vices  of  our  ancestors,  but  these  evils  can  be  overcome; 
and  when  they  cannot  be  overcome,  they  will  after  all 
find  a  termination,  for  death  is  the  wages  of  sin. 

The  nature  of  sin  is  its  contrariness  to  life  ;  its 
main  feature  is  the  impossibility  of  a  continued  exist- 
ence. Extinction  being  the  natural  consequence  of 
viciousness,  the  wages  of  sin  are  at  the  same  time  the 
saviour,  the  redeemer  from  the  evils  of  sin. 


I42  HOMILIES  (>/•'  SCIENCE. 

If  all  the  parents  in  the  whole  world  were  like 
Chamberlain  Alving,  the  ruthless  father  of  Oswald 
Alving,  and  like  Mrs.  Engstrand,  the  frivolous  mother 
of  the  coquettish  girl  Regina,  humanity  would  soon 
come  to  an  end.  It  may  be  that  none  of  us  is  entirely 
free  from  these  traits ;  but  some  of  us  are  so  more  or 
less.  In  some  of  us  these  traits  are  mixed  with  enno- 
bling features,  and  we  are  striving  to  overcome  that 
which  we  have  recognised  as  bad.  However,  nature 
is  constantly  at  work  to  prune  the  growing  genera- 
tions. Death  is  the  wages  of  sin,  and  the  bright  side 
of  this  awful  truth  is  the  constant  amelioration  of  the 
race. 


THE  RELIGION  OF  RESIGNATION. 


AMONG  the  many  religions  upon  earth  there  are 
two  that  exceed  all  the  others  in  the  number  of  their 
devotees.  They  are  Buddhism  and  Christianity. 
Neither  Judaism  nor  Mohammedanism,  nor  even 
Paganism,  can  approach  them.  The  latter  taken  to- 
gether do  not  as  yet  equal  one  of  the  two  former;  it  is 
as  if  the  world  were  divided  between  them. 

Buddhism  and  Christianity  have  one  common 
feature.  Both  proclaim  the  gospel  of  salvation  from 
the  evils  of  this  world  by  resignation.  Both  point  to 
a  higher  life  which  can  be  gained  through  the  sacrifice 
of  our  individual  selves.  Other  religions  require  sac- 
rifices of  lambs  and  goats.  Buddhism  and  Christianity 
demand  the  surrender  of  self.  Mohammedanism  prom  - 
ises  enjoyment  and  happiness  upon  earth  and  in 
heaven.  Both  Buddhism  and  Christianity  preach  en- 
durance in  affliction  and  submission  to  'tribulation. 

It  seems  natural  to  seek  pleasure  and  to  shun  pain. 
The  religious  injunctions  of  Buddha  and  Christ  are  a 
reversion  of  this  instinctive  desire.  They  preach  this  : 
Do  not  shun  pain,  and  do  not  seek  pleasure.  Says 
Christ :  "  If  any  man  will  come  after  me,  let  him  deny 
himself,  and  take  up  his  cross  and  follow  me." 

Buddhism,  it  is  well  known,  did  not  succeed  in 
overcoming  the  many  superstitions  of  its  converts. 
Christianity  became  ossified  as  soon  as  its  mythology 


i44  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

was  systematized  into  theological  dogmas.  The  Chris- 
tians, while  clinging  to  the  letter  of  their  creed  which 
killeth,  lost  the  spirit  of  their  teacher's  doctrine. 

We  shall  not  here  point  out  the  errors  of  these 
religions,  but  try  to  find  the  key  to  their  wonderful 
success.  And  can  there  be  any  doubt  about  it  ? 

Their  success  can  be  due  only  to  their  thorough 
conquest  of  death.  The  Buddhist  who  has  taken  his 
refuge  in  Buddha,  and  the  Christian  who  is  earnest  in 
his  following  of  Christ,  will  not  tremble  in  the  face  of 
death,  for  to  them  death  has  lost  its  sting.  The 
Christian  lives  in  God,  and  the  Buddhist  has  even  upon 
earth  spiritually  entered  into  Nirvana.  They  have 
placed  all  their  hopes  in  a  higher  life,  "  where  there 
shall  be  no  more  death,  neither  sorrow  nor  crying, 
neither  shall  there  be  any  more  pain,  for  the  former 
things  are  passed  away." 

This  victory  over  death  is  not  accomplished  by  avoid- 
ing death  and  by  shunning  the  anguish  of  life,  but  by 
a  surrender  to  death  of  that  which  cannot  escape  death 
and  by  finding  rest  in  the  ideal  world  of  immortal  life. 
Whatever  be  our  fate, — they  say  unto  themselves, — 
the  kingdom  of  God  will  be  victorious  ;  all  other  things 
are  mere  trifles;  therefore  let  us  remain  children  of 
God  and  we  shall  inherit  his  kingdom.  Luther  sings  : 

Strong  tower  and  refuge  is  our  God, 

Right  goodly  shield  and  weapon  ; 
He  helps  us  free  in  every  need, 
That  hath  us  now  o'ertaken. 
Take  they  then  our  life, 
Wealth,  honor,  child  and  wife, 
Let  these  all  be  gone, 
No  triumph  have  they  won. 
The  kingdom  ours  remaineth. 

This  song  with  its  powerful  melody  was  the  slogan 
of  the  new  faith  that  regenerated  Christianity  and 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE,  145 

conciliated  religion  with  the  progress  that  science 
had  made  before  the  Reformation.  Yet  Luther  and 
other  Christians  believed  in  the  immortality  of  their 
ego,'  and  it  seems  as  if  their  religious  confidence  were 
based  upon  this  error.  We  have  ceased  to  believe  in 
a  mystical  soul-substance  which  was  formerly  supposed 
to  inhabit  the  body  as  a  stranger,  and  which  after  death 
will  hover  about  somewhere  as  a  spectre.  We  have 
ceased  to  believe  in  ghosts ;  science  has  banished  the 
phantoms  of  disembodied  spirits  out  of  the  provinces 
of  psychology  and  philosophy.  But  must  we  for  that 
reason  cease  to  believe  in  life  and  in  spiritual  life  ? 
Must  we  therefore  consider  death  as  a  finality?  Does 
not  science  teach  the  persistence  of  life  and  of  spiritual 
life ;  and  is  there  the  slightest  reason  that  we  should 
cease  to  believe  in  the  immortality  of  our  ideals?  Is  it 
not  a  fact,  scientifically  indubitable,  that  every  work 
done,  be  it  good  or  evil,  continues  in  its  effects  upon 
future  events  ?  Is  it  not  a  fact  established  upon  reli- 
able observations  that  the  evolution  of  mankind,  and 
of  all  life  generally  upon  earth,  is  one  great  and  con- 
tinous  whole;  that  even  to-day  the  efforts  of  our  an- 
cestors are  preserved  in  the  present  generation  ;  their 
features,  their  characters,  their  souls  now  live  in  us. 
Certainly  not  all  features  are  preserved,  but  those  only 
which  nature  considered  worth  preserving.  So  our 
characters,  our  thoughts,  our  aspirations,  our  souls 
will  live  in  future  generations,  if  they  are  strong 
enough,  if  they  are  noble  and  elevating.  In  order  to 
be  strong,  they  must  be  in  accord  with  nature,  they 
must  be  true.  In  order  to  live,  they  must  be  engen- 
dered by  the  evolutionary  tendency  in  nature,  which 
constantly  endeavors  to  lift  life  to  higher  planes.  It 
must  be,  as  the  Christian  expresses  it,  in  harmony  with 


i46  110  At  1 1.1  KV  (>/•'  SC/KNCE. 

God,  if  God  is  meant  to  be  that  power  in  nature  and 
in  our  hearts  that  ever  again  and  again  prompts  us  to 
struggle  and  to  strive  for  something  higher. 

Our  soul  can  no  longer  be  considered  as  that  unity 
which  it  used  to  be  to  our  forefathers.  It  is  a  part  of 
the  soul  of  humanity  in  a  certain  phase  of  its  develop- 
ment. As  such  it  is  a  rich  combination  of  certain 
ideals,  thoughts,  and  aspirations  of  hopes  and  fears,  of 
wishes  and  of  ideals.  Our  ego  is  nothing  but  an  ideal 
thread  on  which  are  strung  the  invaluable  pearls  of  our 
spiritual  existence.  The  ego  is  nothing  but  the  tem- 
poral succession  in  which  these  ideas  are  thought. 

It  is  not  the  belief  in  an  immortalized  ego  that  can 
conquer  death,  but  it  is  the  surrender  of  this  ego  and 
cf  all  its  egotistic  desires.  This  ego  we  now  know  is 
no  real  thing  ;  it  is  an  illusion  and  possesses  a  fleeting, 
momentary,  sham  existence  only.  Reality  of  life  is 
not  to  be  found  there,  and  if  its  continuity  is  broken 
in  death,  our  individual  existence  ceases,  but  not 
necessarily  the  life  of  our  soul.  The  ideal  world  of 
our  mind  can  outlive  our  body,  and  we  can  gain  an 
immortality  of  that  part  of  ourselves  which  is  most 
worthy  of  being  preserved. 

This  it  appears,  is  the  truth  in  Buddhism  and  Chris- 
tianity, this  is  the  secret  that  explains  why  they  con- 
quered the  world.  Resign  all  egotism,  do  not  place 
your  hope  upon  this  fleeting  existence,  and  devote 
your  efforts  to  the  creation  of  that  higher  life,  of  that 
ideal  world,  where  death  is  unknown  and  the  petty 
tribulations  of  life  disappear  ! 

This  life  cannot  be  realized  by  the  poet  and 
philosopher  only,  not  by  the  great  only,  the  heroes  of 
mankind  :  it  can  be  realized  by  every  one  of  us.  It  is 
this  that  Christ  preached,  and  it  is  this  that  Buddha  pro- 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  147 

claimed.  Every  one  of  us  is  called  to  participate  in 
the  higher  life,  for  the  intellectuality  of  a  higher  life 
is  one  phase  of  it  only,  and  it  is  not  its  grandest  part. 
Its  sum-total  is  comprised  in  all  those  many  ideals 
and  aspirations  that,  in  one  word,  we  call  morality. 
It  is,  as  Paul  says,  Faith,  Hope,  and  Charity ;  but 
Charity  is  the  greatest  among  them. 

Men  who  have  given  up  their  individual  ego,  who 
have  risen  to  the  height  of  that  spiritual  life  which 
knoweth  not  death,  will  live  in  this  world  as  though 
they  lived  not ;  they  that  weep,  as  though  they  wept 
not,  and  they  that  rejoice  as  though  they  rejoiced  not, 
and  they  that  buy  as  though  they  possessed  not,  and 
they  that  use  this  world  as  not  abusing  it :  for  the 
fashion  of  this  world  passeth  away. 

They  will  live,  as  though  they  lived  not,  because 
their  life  is  no  longer  the  fleeting  sham- existence  of 
their  egotistic  desires.  Their  life  has  become  an  ex- 
pression of  that  higher  life  which  is  immortal.  They 
buy  as  though  they  possessed  not,  because  they  know 
that  they  shall  have  to  leave  their  possessions. 

They  consider  themselves  as  stewards  to  whom 
property  is  entrusted  for  a  wise  use.  Even  their  joys 
and  pains,  their  recreations  and  troubles  become 
transfigured  by  the  universality  of  the  spirit  that  ani- 
mates their  whole  being. 

The  religion  of  the  future  will  not  be  Christian 
dogmatism,  it  will  be  no  creed,  no  belief  in  any  of  the 
tenets  of  the  church.  Yet  it  must  preserve  the  spirit 
of  Christianity  which  has  enabled  it  to  conquer  death. 
It  must  be  a  religion  of  resignation.  If  thou  wilt 
enter  into  life  eternal,  cease  to  cling  to  that  which 
perishes,  and  become  one  with  the  Life  Immortal ! 


THE  RELIGION  OF  JOY. 


THE  Christian  gospel  is  a  tiding  of  joy ;  but  its  joy 
is  very  different  from  the  happiness  that  is  so  eagerly 
sought  for  by  thousands  and  millions  of  wretched 
beings  who  tire  themselves  out  by  hunting  shadows. 

It  is  natural  that  only  two  religions  have  a  festival 
of  rejoicing  in  the  birth  of  a  child  destined  to  be  the 
saviour  of  the  world  ;  Buddhism,  namely,  and  Chris- 
tianity. 

Buddhism  and  Christianity  are  the  religions  of  re- 
signation. They  demand  that  we  shall  willingly  and  un- 
hesitatingly take  up  our  cross  ;  that  we  shall  not  shirk 
tribulations,  suffering,  and  least  of  all  death  ;  that  we 
shall  renounce  all  cravings  for  pleasure,  sacrifice  all 
desires  of  egotism,  and  in  fact  give  up  our  very  self, 
which  is  the  source  of  all  our  unsatisfied  yearnings. 

Buddhism  and  Christianity,  being  religions  of  self- 
denial,  have  been  called  pessimistic  world-concep- 
tions. In  a  certain  sense  they  are  pessimistic,  in  an- 
other sense  they  are  not.  They  ought  to  be  called 
melioristic.  Recognizing  to  its  full  extent  the  truth 
of  pessimism,  recognizing  all  the  misery  that  exists  in 
the  world  and  the  wretchedness  of  living  creatures, 
the  religions  of  self-denial  are  preached  to  show  the 
path  of  salvation.  In  this  sense  Buddhism  and  Chris- 
tianity are  the  religions  of  joy. 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  149 

Says  the  Apostle:  "  Rejoice  always !"  and  again 
he  describes  himself  and  his  co-workers  as  the  am- 
bassadors of  Christ :  "As  unknown,  and  yet  well  known; 
as  dying,  and  behold  we  live  ;  as  chastened,  and  not 
killed  ;  as  sorrowful,  yet  always  rejoicing  ;  as  poor, 
yet  making  many  rich  ;  as  having  nothing,  and  yet  pos- 
sessing all  things."  Says  Christ :  "Rejoice  and  be 
exceeding  glad  !  "  and  the  angel  said  to  the  shepherds : 
"Fear  not,  for  behold  I  bring  you  good  tidings  of 
great  joy,  which  shall  be  to  all  people." 

Wherever  a  religion  of  self-denial  has  been 
preached,  it  has  always  been  a  gospel  of  cheer,  of 
gladness,  of  salvation.  This  seems  to  be  contradictory, 
and  yet  it  is  natural. 

The  main  idea  of  the  religions  of  self-denial  is  a 
truth  which,  if  lost,  we  should  have  to  discover  again. 
Similarly,  if  our  knowledge  of  the  law  of  gravitation 
were  lost,  we  should  have  to  discover  it  again.  And 
if  another  than  Newton  had  calculated  its  formula, 
the  formula  would  be  exactly  the  same  as  it  is  now, 
whether  it  were  expressed  in  Greek,  or  in  English,  or 
in  Chinese. 

Spiritual  truth  is  no  less  rigorous  than  mathemati- 
cal truth.  Spiritual  truth  has  to  develop  according  to 
law  no  less  than  the  flowers  in  the  fields,  no  less  than 
human  civilization,  the  arts  and  the  sciences.  When 
the  blossoms  blow  in  springtide,  it  appears  as  if  the 
earth  had  long  been  preparing  and  expecting  this  mo- 
ment. Thus  when  Buddha  went  under  the  fig  tree, 
where  the  idea  of  salvation  enlightened  his  mind,  the 
Buddhistic  gospels  relate  that  the  angels  sung,  "This 
is  the  night  the  ages  waited  for." 

Is  it  surprising  that  so  wonderful  a  truth  as  that 
life  is  love,  salvation  is  self-surrender,  and  joy  is  the 


1 5o  HOMILIES  01-'  SCIENCE. 

sacrifice  of  all  desire,  has  been  clothed  in  myths  and 
decked  with  miraculous  legends?  Is  it  surprising  that 
great  institutions  were  founded  with  ceremonies  and 
rites  in  order  to  make  comprehensible  this  spiritual 
truth  to  those  who  could  not  grasp  it?  And  again,  is 
it  surprising  that  in  all  these  institutions  the  truth  is 
overgrown  and  hidden  by  the  myth?  The  letter  that 
killeth  has  prevailed  over  the  spirit ! 

Science  with  ruthless  criticism  destroys  the  my- 
thology which  has  so  long  prided  itself  as  the  truth. 
Yet  science  will  never  destroy  the  truth  which  has 
been  the  vitality  in  the  germs  from  which  sprang  Bud- 
dhism as  well  as  Christianity.  And  the  religion  of 
science,  if  it  is  to  be  a  live  power,  must  preach  the 
same  truth. 

Science  recognizes  the  struggle  for  life,  but  the  re- 
ligion of  science  brings  peace.  It  brings  the  peace  of 
soul  that  makes  man  one  with  that  power  which  is  the 
source  of  all  life,  one  with  that  actuality  which  is  the 
way,  the  truth,  and  the  life  ;  so  that  what  appeared  as 
a  struggle  for  selfish  ends,  now  becomes  work,  and 
work,  whatever  it  be,  pleasant  or  disagreeable,  sowing 
or  reaping,  ruling  or  obeying,  drudgery  or  the  work  of 
enthusiasm  and  love,  is  all  transfigured  by  being  con- 
ceived as  the  performance  of  duty. 

The  religion  of  science  does  not  preach  asceticism, 
when  it  demands  self-denial  and  a  radical  surrender 
of  egotism.  On  the  contrary,  like  the  good  tidings  of 
Bethlehem,  it  proclaims  a  religion  of  joy — not  for 
those  who  are  rich,  but  for  all  the  world  ;  first  for  the 
poor,  yet  also  for  the  rich,  if  their  hearts  are  fit  to  re- 
ceive the  gospel. 


THE  FESTIVAL  OF  RESURRECTION. 


SPRING  comes  again  ;  and  Eastertide  reminds  us  of 
nature's  immortality.  There  is  no  death  !  What  seems 
so  is  transition.  When  in  wintry  weather  the  sun  hides 
his  face,  northern  blasts  tear  the  leaves  from  our  trees ; 
but  now  the  sun  is  returned  and  new  life  grows  on 
every  branch,  the  verdure  reappears  in  the  fields  and 
man's  heart  believes  with  strengthened  confidence  in 
the  realization  of  human  ideals. 

Easter  day  is  the  festival  of  Christ's  resurrection, 
and  the  question  has  often  been  raised  whether  Easter 
day  can  with  any  consistency  be  celebrated  by  those 
who  have  ceased  to  believe  in  the  sacred  legend  that 
Jesus  Christ  who  died  on  the  cross  rose  on  the  third 
day  from  the  dead.  We  firmly  maintain  that  it  can 
and  that  it  ought  to  be  celebrated  by  all  those  who  be- 
lieve in  the  revival  of  spring,  in  the  constant  resurrec- 
tion of  human  life,  and  in  the  immortality  of  our  ideals. 

Eastertime  is  not  at  all  exclusively  a  Christian 
festival ;  Eastertime  is  a  festival  of  natural  religion. 
Its  very  name  is  pagan,  for  Ostara  was  the  goddess  of 
the  returning  light ;  and  light  brings  life.  She  was  the 
Aurora,  the  Eos,  of  the  Germans,  the  deity  of  the 
morning  dawn  in  the  East ;  and  the  egg  was  the  holy 
symbol  that  represented  her  mysterious  powers. 

An  egg  is  a  wonderful  thing;  it  has  been  the  object 


1 52  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

of  repeated  investigations  by  our  greatest  naturalists ; 
and  our  profoundest  philosophers  have  pondered  over 
the  revelations  of  its  marvelous  secrets.  The  egg  rep- 
resents the  potentialities  of  life.  Mere  warmth  is 
needed  to  change  the  apparently  homogeneous  and 
insensible  yolk  into  a  most  complicated  animal  en- 
dowed with  a  certain  degree  of  intelligence.  The 
egg  represents,  as  we  now  know,  the  actual  mem- 
ories of  chicken-life  up  to  date.  Its  memories  are 
not  conscious  memories,  but  the  preservations  of 
certain  structures  in  living  matter.  They  are  motions 
of  a  certain  form,  which  under  favorable  conditions 
and  proper  temperature  will  repeat  all  those  motions, 
those  vital  activities,  which  its  innumerable  ancestors 
went  through  in  uncounted  ages  past. 

How  wonderful  are  the  secrets  of  form,  and,  in 
spite  of  the  complex  applications  of  which  the  laws 
of  form  admit,  how  simple  is  the  basic  idea  that  ex- 
plains their  mysteries  !  The  artillerist,  who  aims  his 
cannon,  knows  that  a  hair-breadth's  difference  in  the 
angle  of  elevation  will  give  another  course  to  the  mis- 
sile ;  the  curve  of  its  motion  will  be  changed  with  the 
variation  of  its  determining  factors. 

The  egg  contains  the  determining  and  formative 
factors  of  certain  motions  of  living  substance,  not 
otherwise  than  three  points  represent  the  potentiality 
of  a  special  kind  of  curve.  The  determining  factors 
of  the  egg  have,  in  their  turn,  been  determined  by  the 
parental  activities  of  its  predecessors ;  and  thus  the 
egg  becomes  a  symbol  of  resurrection. 

Life  is  not  extinct  with  the  dissolution  of  individ- 
ual existence,  for  even  the  individual  features  are  pre- 
served in  coming  generations.  And,  if  this  be  true 
in  the  chicken,  how  much  more  is  it  true  in  man. 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  153 

Man's  intellectual  life  has  still  other  channels  to  be 
preserved  in  and  transmitted  to  the  souls  of  other 
men.  These  channels  are  human  speech.  The 
spoken  word,  and  perhaps  more  so,  the  written  or 
printed  word,  make  it  possible  for  the  valuable 
thoughts  of  great  thinkers  and  the  enthusiastic  as- 
pirations of  poets  to  live  among  us  as  if  their  authors 
had  never  died.  Indeed,  they  have  not  died,  they 
live  still.  Their  souls  are,  and  will  remain,  active 
presences  in  mankind  to  shape  the  destinies,  and  to 
guide  the  future  development  of  our  race. 

Whether  any  given  one  of  the  heroes  of  mankind 
rose  bodily  from  the  dead  or  not,  especially  whether 
Christ  rose  bodily  from  the  dead  or  not,  is  quite  in- 
different for  the  truth  of  the  constant  resurrection 
which,  as  science  teaches,  continuously  takes  place  in 
nature  and  in  the  evolution  of  humanity.  Let  us 
not  say,  because  there  is  no  truth  in  the  fables  of  re- 
ligious mythology,  that  there  is  no  resurrection  what- 
ever. Let  us  not  say  that  we  do  not  care  for  such  a  re- 
surrection as  can  be  observed  around  us  in  nature,  and 
as  can  be  experienced  in  human  soul  life ;  that  unless 
we  rise  as  bodiless  spirits,  as  taught  by  supernatural- 
istic  religions,  we  do  not  care  for  any  resurrection  in 
which  the  continuity  of  our  individual  consciousness 
is  interrupted.  Let  us  not  speak  like  spoiled  children, 
who  want  their  caprices  fulfilled,  and  if  they  cannot 
have  their  whims  satisfied,  want  nothing  at  all.  Let 
us  rather  become  familiar  with  the  real  facts  of  life, 
and  we  shall  learn  that  truth  is  grander  than  fiction, 
and  real  nature  is  better  than  an  imaginary  super- 
nature. 

We  are  told  by  men  that  aspire  to  be  radical  free- 
thinkers, that  this  conception  of  immortality  is  a  re- 


154  HOMILIES  OI-  SCIENCE. 

vival  of  old  superstitions.  What  a  strange  miscon- 
ception !  Man  will  die,  they  say,  and  if  man  is  dead, 
all  is  over  with  him  ;  death  is  an  absolute  finality ; 
and  no  one,  so  they  maintain,  will  care  for  any  other 
than  a  personal  immortality,  in  which  the  continuity 
of  consciousness  is  preserved. 

Men  of  this  class  are  not  familiar  with  the  facts  of 
life.  Not  only  is  it  true  that  life  continues  after  the 
death  of  the  individual,  and  that  the  work  of  every 
individual  continues  as  one  of  the  factors  in  the  for- 
mation of  the  destinies  of  future  generations,  but  also 
the  care  for  what  will  be  the  state  of  things  after  our 
death  is  a  most  important  motive  in  all  our  actions. 
We  do  care  for  what  will  take  place  after  our  death. 
We  do  care  for  the  fates  of  our  children,  of  our  nation, 
of  our  country,  of  our  ideals  and  hopes,  and  how  our 
soul  life  will  affect  the  future  development  of  man- 
kind. We  do  care  for  such  a  continuance  after  death, 
we  do  care  for  an  immortality  of  ourselves,  even  if 
the  continuity  of  our  consciousness  be  broken.  The 
fact  that  we  care  for  such  things  is  the  basis  of  ethics  ; 
it  makes  of  man  a  moral  being.  This  is  the  motive 
that  compels  even  those  who  do  not  believe  in  per- 
sonal immortality,  to  sacrifice  their  lives  for  their  be- 
loved ones,  for  their  convictions,  and  for  their  ideals. 

Let  us  celebrate  Eastertime  as  one  of  the  most 
prominent  festivals  of  natural  religion.  It  is  the  feast 
of  resurrection,  it  proclaims  the  immortality  of  life, 
and  preaches  the  moral  command,  not  to  live  for  this 
limited  life  of  our  individual  existence  only,  but  to 
aspire  to  the  beyond.  Beyond  the  grave  there  is 
more  life,  and  it  is  in  our  power  to  form  and  to 
shape  that  life  for  good  or  for  evil. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  DEATH. 


JESUS  CHRIST  said  to  his  disciples  :  "In  the  world 
ye  shall  have  tribulation,  but  be  of  good  cheer,  I  have 
overcome  the  world  ! " 

This  is  the  grandest  advantage  of  religion  that  it 
comforts  him  who  has  religious  faith,  while  he  who  has 
it  not,  must  tremble  in  this  world  of  worry,  of  turmoil, 
of  struggle,  and  of  death. 

A  scientist  who  had  pondered  over  many  deep 
problems  and  had  been  successful  in  the  solution  of 
several  mysteries  of  nature,  said  with  suppressed  emo- 
tion :  "  Religion  is  a  sweet  self-delusion  that  helps  us 
to  overcome  the  desolateness  of  life." 

Why  is  it  a  self-delusion?  Because,  he  might  have 
answered,  the  ground  upon  which  religious  comfort  is 
based,  is  scientifically  untenable;  yet  is  it  sweet,  be- 
cause religion  alone  can  overcome  the  vanity  of  the 
world  ;  religion  alone  can  fill  the  emptiness  of  a  perish- 
able fleeting  life  that  seems  to  consist  only  of  troubles 
and  cares,  the  joys  of  which,  if  closely  examined,  are 
found  to  be  stale  and  unprofitable. 

The  Christians,  it  may  be  conceded,  delude  them- 
selves when  believing  all  the  many  dogmas  of  their 
church.  But  is  it  a  self-delusion,  if  they  have  really 
conquered  the  world,  and  if  they  face  all  the  agonies  of 
death  with  equanimity  ?  Granted  that  their  belief  is 
wrong,  we  often  observe  their  moral  courage  to  be  of 
the  right  kind.  They  prove  by  their  example  that 


I56  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE 

death  can  be  conquered,  that  we  can  raise  ourselves 
above  the  narrow  sphere  of  selfishness  and  lead  a 
life  that  is  inspired  by  the  religious  ideal  of  a  victory 
over  death. 

I  confess  that  I  am  not  a  believer  in  the  current 
doctrines  of  the  Christian  churches,  but  at  the  same 
time  I  openly  declare,  that  I  am  a  believer  in  Religion. 
I  have  no  theological  creed  to  which  I  adhere,  I  know 
of  no  confession  of  faith  which  I  would  adopt,  but  I 
have  a  faith,  that  man,  without  any  act  of  self  delu- 
sion, can  overcome  the  desolateness  of  life  ;  he  can  fill 
the  emptiness  of  existence  with  imperishable  treasures 
— with  those  treasures  that  are  laid  up  in  the  spiritual 
empire  of  human  aspirations,  where  neither  moth  nor 
lust  doth  corrupt,  and  where  thieves  do  not  break 
through  nor  steal.  I  have  a  faith,  that  man  can  conquer 
death  and  can  build  an  ideal  life  of  spiritual  loftiness 
upon  the  material  existence  of  his  being. 

This  faith  is  that  of  the  mustard-seed.  This  faith 
does  not  look  behind  as  do  all  the  creeds  ;  this  faith 
looks  forward.  This  faith  does  not  anxiously  cleave 
to  the  past  ;•  as  do  all  the  dogmatic  confessions  of  faith. 
The  right  kind  of  faith,  the  only  faith  which  deserves 
that  beautiful  name,  clings  to  the  future.  The  mustard 
is  indeed  the  least  of  all  seeds,  but  when  it  is  grown, 
it  is  the  greatest  among  herbs  and  becometh  a  tree  ; 
so  that  the  birds  of  the  air  come  and  lodge  in  the 
branches  thereof. 

Religion  therefore,  as  I  understand  it,  is  no  for- 
mula of  confession,  it  is  a  moral  act,  it  is  the  soaring 
above  the  lower  life  of  animal  nature.  And  religious 
faith  is  not  a  belief  in  something  that  has  happened 
two  thousand  years  ago  :  it  is  neither  the  acceptance 
nor  rejection  of  the  story  of  David's  son  born  of  a  vir- 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  157 

gin,  the  pathetical  story  of  the  heroic  martyr  who  died 
at  the  cross  and  is  believed  to  have  risen  from  the 
grave  bodily.  Religious  faith  is  the  confidence  that 
we  can  do  our  duty,  that  we  can  gain  the  victory  of 
spirit  over  matter,  and  that  we  can  achieve  the  con- 
quest of  death. 

It  is  death  that  makes  it  necessary  for  man  to  have 
religion.  If  there  were  no  death  in  the  world,  we 
would  not  be  in  need  of  religion.  But  death,  the 
stern  messenger  of  eternal  peace,  awaits  every  one  of 
us.  If  death  did  not  exist,  we  might  as  well  think 
that  man  is  born  to  live  happily  and  enjoy  as  much  as 
possible  the  pleasures  of  life.  But  there  is  the  pale 
phantom  that  hovers  over  us  day  and  night.  We  know 
not  when  it  will  call  us  to  the  silent  rest  in  the  grave, 
but  we  do  know  that  it  will  call  and  take  us  away  from 
the  circle  of  our  family  and  friends,  away  from  the 
field  of  our  activity  and  labors. 

There  are  some  men  who  live  like  animals  from 
day  to  day  without  giving  a  thought  to  death  and  with- 
out care  of  what  may  come  after  them.  That  is  no 
life  worthy  of  a  human  being.  They  do  not  fear  death, 
it  is  true,  but  not  because  they  have  conquered  death. 
Like  the  brute  they  do  not  fear  it — like  dumb  cattle 
that  are  driven  to  the  shambles  without  knowledge, 
without  a  consideration  of  their  fate. 

Life  is  a  serious  duty ;  and  the  experiences  of  life 
should  teach  us  to  number  our  days,  that  we  may  ap- 
ply our  hearts  unto  wisdom. 

If  you  ask  me  what  Religion  is,  I  say :  Religion  is 
the  creation  of  a  higher  life  and  the  laying  up  of  im- 
perishable treasures.  Religion  is  the  conquest  of 
death. 


THE  PRICE  OF  ETERNAL  YOUTH. 


AN  unnecessary  dread  of  death  prevails  among 
mankind,  a  dread  which  is  due  only  to  a  morbid  imagi- 
nation. Men  who  are  not  afraid  to  suffer  pain,  are 
sometimes  found  to  shrink  from  the  mere  idea  of  haz- 
arding their  lives.  It  is  not  the  agonies  of  death  of 
which  they  are  afraid,  nor  is  it  the  state  after  death, 
the  eternal  rest  of  being  dead,  which  appears  appall- 
ing, but  it  is  the  moment  of  dying, — that  it  is  which 
they  dread  most.  It  is  the  passage  from  life  to  death, 
the  passage  through  that  gate, 

"Which  every  man  would  fain  go  slinking  by — 
Where  fancy  doth  herself  to  self-born  pangs  compel, 
Around  whose  narrow  mouth  flame  all  the  fires  of  hell." 

This  dread  is  unnecessary ;  it  is  founded  upon 
wrong  ideas  of  death  ;  it  is  based  on  errors  that  can 
and  must  be  dispelled. 

We  learned  in  school  that  the  old  physicists  believed 
in  a  horror  vacui  and  explained  from  it  certain  natural 
processes.  This  horror  vaciti,  as  we  now  know,  is  an 
error,  just  as  much  as  the  dread  of  death. 

It  is  a  fact  that  dying  persons  are,  as  a  rule,  under 
the  impression  that  they  have  passed  through  a  crisis 
for  improvement,  for  the  agony  is  overcome  and  pain 
has  ceased.  The  feeling  is  due  to  a  blunting  of  our 
sensory  nerves  and  organs,  and  must  be  compared  to 
the  pleasant  sensation  which  a  fatigued  person  enjoys 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  159 

when  quietly  falling  asleep.  In  sleep  the  sense-im- 
pressions become  gradually  dulled  and  sweet  visions 
of  dreams  rise  before  our  mental  eye,  until  the  light 
slumber  passes  into  a  profound  sleep  where  all  con- 
sciousness ceases.  There  is  no  more  reason  for  the 
dread  of  death  than  for  horror  at  lying  down  to  sleep. 

A  sage  of  antiquity  said:  "Why  should  we  fear 
death  ?  Death  is  not  here,  so  long  as  we  are  here. 
And  if  death  is  here,  we  are  no  longer." 

We  must  meet  death  in  the  sense  that  the  Stoic 
philosopher  on  the  throne  prepared  himself  to  accept 
all  the  gifts  of  nature.  He  said  :  "Everything  harmo- 
nizes with  me  which  is  harmonious  to  thee,  O  Cosmos. 
Nothing  for  me  is  too  early  nor  too  late  which  is  in  due 
time  for  thee.  Everything  is  fruit  to  me  which  thy 
seasons  bring,  O  Nature.  From  thee  are  all  things,  in 
thee  are  all  things,  to  thee  all  things  return." 

Death  is  a  natural  phenomenon  not  less  than  birth  ; 
and  the  agonies  of  death  are  generally  less  painful  than 
the  throes  of  birth.  The  problem  of  death  is  closely  in- 
terwoven with  the  problem  of  birth,  so  that  you  can- 
not disentangle  the  one  without  unraveling  the  other. 

Birth  is,  as  our  scientists  teach,  the  growth  of  an 
individual  beyond  its  individuality.  It  is  the  nature  of 
living  beings  to  live  and  to  grow.  The  lowest  kind  of 
animals  do  not  die  ;  they  grow  and  divide  and  thus 
they  multiply.  The  amoeba  may  die  from  violence,  it 
can  be  crushed  to  death  by  your  foot ;  it  may  starve 
from  lack  of  food ;  but  it  knows  no  natural  death. 
The  animalcules  which  you  can  observe  to-day  are  the 
very  same  creatures  that  lived  millenniums  ago,  long 
before  man  appeared  upon  earth.  Immortality  is  their 
natural  state. 

How  did  it  happen  that  death  came  into  the  world 


160  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

of  life,  into  the  realm  of  immortality?  Is  death  the 
meed  of  sin  that  is  due  to  a  violation  of  nature's  laws? 
Or  if  it  is  a  natural  process,  pray  what  is  it  ? 

Death  came  into  the  world  as  the  brother  of  birth, 
and  death  became  necessary  when  birth  with  its  re- 
juvenescent power  lifted  organic  life  one  step  higher 
in  its  evolutionary  career,  so  as  to  allow  a  constantly 
renewed  progress,  so  as  to  create  innumerable  fresh 
beginnings  and  to  give  new  starts  to  life,  new  pos- 
sibilities to  the  development  of  life. 

Birth  is  growth  beyond  the  limit  of  individuality. 
Thus  the  creature  born  is  the  very  same  creature  as 
its  mother  and  its  father,  just  as  much  as  the  two  amoe- 
bas  are  the  very  same  substance  the  mother  amreba 
was  before  her  division.  But  the  creature  born  has 
one  great  advantage  over  its  parents.  It  can  com- 
mence life  over  again.  It  is  identical  with  its  parents, 
but  it  is  its  parents  in  a  state  so  little  fixed  and  formed, 
so  young,  so  unimpaired,  so  pure,  like  the  fresh  dew 
that  glitters  in  the  morning-sun,  that  it  can  make  a 
new  start,  it  can  travel  new  paths  and  can  climb  to 
higher  planes,  which  seemed  inaccessible  to  its  an- 
cestors. 

Not  only  men  but  all  creatures  are  naturally  one- 
sided ;  they  develop  to  be  one-sided  through  their 
occupations  and  their  experiences,  and  become  more 
and  more  so  the  longer  they  live.  What  can  life  wish 
for  better,  than  to  be  allowed  to  drop  again  and  again  the 
fresh  prejudices  constantly  acquired,  which  we  even 
admit  may  be  justified  in  the  men  that  hold  them.  But 
we  know  that  they  would  become  injurious  if  mankind 
clung  to  them  forever.  It  is  for  the  best  of  humanity,  that 
it  can  drop  the  errors  which  are  perhaps,  as  we  freely 
grant,  partial  truths.  Humanity  must  gain  not  only 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  161 

renewed  vigor,  but  also  virginity  in  life  and  in  love, 
in  hopes,  and  in  ideal  aspirations. 

This  is  done  through  the  introduction  of  birth  into 
the  empire  of  life.  And  this  makes  it  possible  that  life 
is  always  young,  that  it  is  virgin-like,  and  endowed 
with  renewed  courage  as  well  as  interest. 

Is  the  boon  of  a  constant  rejuvenescence  of  the  race 
through  birth  bought  too  dearly  by  the  surrender  of 
our  individual  existence  to  death?  Certainly  not,  if 
the  good  features  of  individuals  can  be  transmitted  to 
their  descendants,  if  their  death  is  only  a  partial  ob- 
literation of  life,  where  it  has  lost  the  capacity  of 
progressive  endeavor,  where  impartiality  of  judgment 
is  gone,  so  that  we  no  longer  can  see  the  light 
when  a  new  morn  dawns  with  greater  and  higher  pos- 
sibilities. 

Nature  does  not  intend  to  ossify  life,  it  makes  life 
plastic,  and  in  order  to  preserve  the  plasticity,  the 
vigor,  and  virginity  of  life,  nature  endowed  life  not 
only  with  immortality  that  through  the  act  of  birth 
makes  life  extend  and  grow  beyond  the  limit  of  indi- 
vidual existence,  but  at  the  same  time  it  bestowed  upon 
it,  through  the  same  means  of  birth,  that  wonderful 
desirable  gift,  eternal  youth,  without  which  immor- 
tality would  become  an  unbearable  burden. 

What  would  life  be,  what  would  immortality  mean, 
if  it  were  not  identical  with  eternal  youth  ?  If  human- 
ity must  buy  eternal  youth  at  the  cost  of  death — at  the 
cost  of  the  death  of  individuals,  it  is  certainly  not 
bought  too  dearly. 

Death  then  is  a  necessity  ;  but  serious  though  the 
idea  of  death  must  make  our  thoughts,  it  is  not  terrible ; 
awful  though  it  may  be,  it  must  not  overawe  us.  Death 
is  like  the  northern  sunset.  The  evening  twilight  in- 


i62  HOMILIES  of-'  .sr/A.vr/-:. 

dicates  the  rise  of  a  new  morn.  The  nocturnal  dark- 
ness of  the  end  of  life  is  the  harbinger  of  a  new  day, 
clothed  in  eternal  youth.  So  closely  interwoven  is 
death  with  immortality  ! 

The  lesson  that  death  teaches  let  me  express  in  the 
words  of  our  poet : 

"  So  live  that  when  thy  summons  comes  to  join 
The  innumerable  caravan  that  moves 
To  the  pale  realms  of  shade,  where  each  shall  take 
His  chamber  in  the  silent  halls  of  death, 
Thou  go  not,  like  the  quarry  slave  at  night 
Scourged  to  his  dungeon,  but,  sustained  and  soothed 
By  an  unfaltering  trust,  approach  thy  grave 
Like  one  who  wraps  the  drapery  of  his  couch 
About  him,  and  lies  down  to  pleasant  dreams." 


RELIGION  AND  IMMORTALITY. 


JOHANNES  SCHERR,  one  of  the  most  zealous  of  in- 
fidels, who  used  all  his  great  historical  scholarship 
and  philosophical  acumen  to  forge  fatal  shafts  to  hurl 
at  religion,  says  in  one  of  his  lucid  sketches  : 

Religion  is  a  groping  from  the  Temporal  into  the  Eternal  ;  a 
pathfinding  from  the  Finite  into  the  Infinite  ;  a  bridge-spanning 
from  the  Sensible  to  the  Supersensible.  If  we  follow — and  I  speak 
now  on!y  of  men  who  have  the  material  and  the  courage  to  think 
logically — if  we  follow,  I  say,  this  idle  worry  and  contention  to  its 
deepest  root  within  us,  we  shall  find  it  to  mean  this  :  terror  at  the 
thought  of  inevitable  dissolution,  abhorrence  of  imagined  void, 
dread  of  death.  Man  yearns  for  existence  beyond  the  bounds  that 
are  set  to  his  life.  The  happy  man,  that  he  may  further  enjoy  in 
a  kingdom  to  come  the  comforts  he  possessed  on  earth.  The  un- 
happy one,  that  he  may  find  in  the  land  "  above"  the  fortune  he 
was  robbed  of  "below."  And  the  ideal  enthusiast,  that  he  may 
at  last  arrive  at  those  "  regions  bright,"  where  "pure  forms  dwell" 
— the  prototypes  of  the  Good,  the  True,  and  the  Beautiful.  Only 
men  who  through  and  through  are  men,  who,  in  the  beautiful  words 
of  Lucretius,  have  advanced  to  the  point  where  they  are  able  pacata 
posse  omnia  mente  tueri,  can  sternly  face  the  inexorable  thought 
of  the  annihilation  of  the  Ego  and  the  Self,  and,  when  the  last  hour 
is  come,  say  with  stoic  resignation  in  the  words  of  Manfred, 
"  Earth,  take  these  atoms  !  "  The  others,  the  millions  and  hundreds 
of  millions,  all  wish  to  gain  "salvation";  which  means,  to  live 
beyond  the  grave  and  after  dea  h.  And  since  it  is  the  fashion  of 
man  to  believe  and  to  hope  what  he  wishes,  so  do  they  believe  and 
hope  that  their  dear  Self  is  ' '  immortal  "  and  predestined,  after  cor- 
poreal death,  to  be  promoted  to  a  higher  class  in  the  eternal  school 
of  perfection,  or,  as  the  pious  in  current  parlance  term  it,  "  to  be- 
hold God." 


164  HOMILIES  OF  SCI  EM,  /-. 

Scherr  characterizes  religion  very  well  as  the  dread  of 
death,  and  as  a  desire  to  live  beyond  death.  And  truly, 
he  is  right  when  declaring  that  with  many  religion  is 
nothing  more  than  the  desire  to  make  their  dear  ego 
immortal.  But  Scherr  is  decidedly  wrong  when  he 
looks  upon  death  as  a  finality.  It  is  not  matter  alone 
that  man  consists  of,  but  his  form  also ;  and  his  hu- 
manity lies  not  in  the  clay  but  in  the  spirit.  In  order 
to  sustain  animal  life,  it  is  sufficient  to  eat  and  to 
drink  ;  but  to  sustain  spiritual  life,  man  must  be  nour- 
ished with  thoughts.  Our  children  imbibe  their  mental 
existence  from  parents  and  instructors,  and  the  ideas 
with  which  they  are  reared  are  the  very  souls  of  the 
heroes  of  past  ages  ;  they  are  the  souls  of  their  ancestors 
and  the  valuable  results  of  the  lives  of  the  departed. 

The  earth  takes  part  of  its  atoms  again  in  every 
moment  of  life,  and  it  is  not  the  atoms  that  we  must 
care  for  most.  Man  does  not  live  by  bread  alone,  the 
nourishment  of  his  soul  is  the  word ;  and  the  word 
makes  of  him  a  human  being.  Man's  life  is  not  ended 
when  all  the  atoms  that  shape  his  body  return  to  the 
dust  from  which  they  came.  Nature  has  devised 
means  to  preserve  that  which  is  human  and  to  let  the 
soul  of  man  continue  even  after  death. 

I  read  of  late  in  an  historical  essay  some  sen- 
tences to  the  following  purport :  '  American  freedom 
was  not  possible  but  for  the  determination  and  strengtli 
of  the  Puritan  character.  The  Puritans  were  not  pos- 
sible but  for  Luther,  and  Luther  was  not  possible  but 
for  Paul.'  If  that  is  so,  and  I  expect  there  is  no  one 
who  will  dispute  it,  can  it  be  said  that  death  was  a 
finality  to  Luther  or  to  Paul  ?  When  the  earth  took 
the  atoms  of  these  men,  did  the  earth  really  take  their 
whole  being?  No,  it  did  not.  Their  better  parts, 


ttOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  165 

those  elements  of  their  souls  which  were  pure  and 
noble,  were  preserved  and  will  be  preserved  as  long  as 
men  live  upon  earth.  The  ideals  which  they  aspired 
to,  the  truths  which  they  taught,  are  immortal.  And 
like  the  torch  in  the  mysteries  of  Eleusis  that. passed 
from  hand  to  hand,  their  soul-life  will  be  handed  down 
faithfully  from  generation  to  generation. 

The  purpose  of  religion,  indeed,  is  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  soul.  The  preservation  of  the  soul  beyond 
death  is  no  illusion,  no  chimera  of  fanatic  minds.  It  is 
a  fact  of  our  experience,  it  is  a  reality  that  can  be  sci- 
entifically proved.  Death  is  no  mere  dissolution  into 
all-existence.  Certain  features  of  our  soul-life  are  pre- 
served in  their  individuality.  Copernicus  still  lives  in 
Kepler,  and  Kepler  in  Newton  ;  and  to-day  Copernicus 
lives  in  every  one  of  us  who  has  freed  himself  from 
the  error  of  a  geocentric  conception  of  the  world.  The 
progress  of  humanity  is  nothing  but  an  accumulation 
of  the  most  precious  treasures  we  have — it  is  the 
hoarding  up  of  human  souls. 


SPIRITISM  AND  IMMORTALITY. 


SPIRITISM  must  be  well  distinguished  from  Spirit- 
ualism, although  in  popular  speech  the  latter  term  is 
generally  employed  for  the  former.  Spiritualism  is 
that  philosophical  view  which,  in  opposition  to  ma- 
terialism, assumes  spirit  as  the  ultimate  and  universal 
principle  from  which  the  phenomena  of  the  world  are 
to  be  explained.  Spiritism  is  the  belief  in  spirits  and 
the  apparition  of  spirits.  While  spiritualism  is  a 
lofty  conception  of  profound  thinkers  (such  as  Berkeley 
and  Fichte)  who  boldly  spiritualize  the  whole  uni- 
verse, spiritism,  on  the  contrary,  materializes  even 
spirit  itself  and  spiritual  phenomena.  With  the  spirit- 
ist the  spiritual  realm  has  become  a  world  of  spirits. 

Spiritism,  and  the  belief  in  spirits,  may  often  have 
been  occasioned  either  by  successful  impositions,  or 
by  mysterious  phenomena,  which  for  a  length  of  time 
frustrated   all   attempts   at    explanation.      But,    ulti 
mately,  the  origin  of  spiritism  lies  deeper;  the  source 
from  which   it  is   nourished,   is  man's  longing  for  im 
mortality.     From   the  vague  hope  of  life  beyond  the 
grave,   and   from    the   dread    of    being    entirely   an- 
nihilated, spiritism    draws   its   strength;    and    all    at 
tempts  at  disclosing  the  deceptions  of  impostors,  and 
at   explaining   certain    marvelous   phenomena   which 
had  been  regarded  as  certain   proofs  by  believers,  will 
remain  futile,  so  long  as  the  spirit  of  man  is  considered 


tiOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  '  167 

as  an  entity,  existing  of  itself  and  inhabiting  the  body 
during  the  time  of  life.  The  idea  of  immortality  which 
is  an  exceedingly  powerful  factor  in  human  emotions, 
must,  in  this  combination,  produce  the  most  fantas- 
tical and  nondescript  errors,  which,  wherever  they 
have  been  implanted,  will  take  firm  root  in  the  human 
mind.  Not  that  the  errors  possess  that  strength  of 
themselves;  they  derive  it  from  the  truth  with  which 
they  are  mingled;  and  a  total  annihilation  of  ourselves 
is  so  utterly  inconceivable,  that  we  feel  by  an  instinctive 
intuition,  as  it  were,  the  truth  of  immortality. 

The  immortality  of  the  soul  is  commonly  under- 
stood to  be  the  continuance  of  our  conscious  ego  be- 
yond death  in  the  shape  of  a  spiritual,  bodiless  being. 
This  view  rests  on  the  principle  that  the  soul  is  an  en- 
tity which  inhabits  the  body  and  can  exist  of  itself; 
accordingly  the  ego  is  considered  as  a  substance  which 
is  supposed  to  be  the  constant  and  continuous  factor 
behind  the  transient  states  of  consciousness. 

The  immortality  of  the  ego  stands  and  falls  with 
the  belief  in  a  ghost-soul,  and  the  only  scientific  evi- 
dence for  the  existence  of  a  ghost-soul  has  been  the 
supposed  unity  of  consciousness.  If  our  conscious- 
ness were  a  substance,  and  if,  as  a  substance,  it  pos- 
sessed a  unity,  for  instance  like  that  of  an  atom,  the 
ego  of  our  consciousness,  would  perhaps  be  inde- 
structible. Kant's  Critique  of  Pure  Reason  teaches 
that  the  ego,  as  an  entity,  is  a  fiction.  We  are 
aware  of  a  series  of  ideas  that  become  conscious  in  our 
mind.  It  is  these  ideas  that  are  constantly  present, 
but  to  consider  consciousness  as  a  substance  that  exists 
apart  from  its  contents  of  ideas  is  an  illusion,  a  fal- 
lacy or  paralogism  of  pure  reason.  Modern  investiga- 
tions in  physiological  psychology  show  that  the  ego, 


1 68  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

with  its  chains  of  conscious  and  subconscious  states, 
is  the  product  of  many  factors  under  very  complicated 
conditions.  The  ego  forms  a  unity,  /'.  <?.,  a  unitary 
complex,  or  a  compound  system;  but,  of  itself,  it  is  not  a 
unit.  The  Einheitlichkeit  of  the  soul  must  not  be  con 
strued  as  a  rigid  and  ultimate  Einheit.  In  a  similar 
way  the  French  school  of  experimental  psychology, 
foremost  among  them  Th.  Ribot  and  Alfred  Binet, 
have  proved  that  the  ego  is  not  an  entity  constituting 
the  "  cause  "  of  mental  phenomena,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
that  the  ego  is  the  "  effect  "  of  certain  phenomena  of 
mental  activity.  If  this  ego,  as  an  entity,  is  an  illusion, 
how  can  it  be  immortal?  If  a  ghost-soul  does  not 
exist,  how  can  it  continue  to  exist?  If  a  conscious- 
ness independent  of  its  contents,  which  are  the  ideas 
that  become  conscious  in  our  mind,  has  no  reality, 
how  can  we  attribute  to  it  a  permanence  in  ceternum? 
Although  a  ghost-immortality  of  disembodied 
spirits  is  impossible,  man's  existence  is  not  a  fleeting 
phenomenon  of  an  ephemeral  nature.  His  soul-life  is 
not  of  yesterday,  and  does  not  vanish  into  nothingness 
to-morrow.  His  ideas  as  well  as  his  actions  are  facts 
that  continue  to  be  factors  in  the  future  development 
of  his  race.  The  life  of  a  single  individual  is  not  a 
separate  and  single  event  that  begins  with  his  birth 
and  disappears  again  at  his  death.  It  is  the  product 
of  a  long  evolution  of  many  thousands  of  generations. 
Their  works  and  thoughts  live  in  the  present  genera- 
tion, and  our  soul-life,  our  thoughts,  accompanied 
with  the  same  kind  of  feelings,  will  continue  to  exist 
in  the  future.  Those  who  think,  who  act,  and  who 
.feel  like  ourselves,  possess  our  souls,*  and  in  them 
we  shall  continue  to  live  and  move  and  have  our  being. 

*  Compare  THE  OPEN  COURT,  page  396,  first  column,  lines  i— u. 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE  i6g 

It  is  objected  that,  as  a  rule,  people  do  not  care  for 
such  an  immortality;  they  want  the  immortality  of 
a  ghost-soul.  This  is  undoubtedly  true,  but  whether 
they  care  or  not,  it  does  not  alter  the  facts.  If  people 
do  not  care  for  this  grander  kind  of  immortality,  they 
must  be  educated  to  appreciate  it. 

A  Christian  missionary  in  Greenland  told  his 
Esquimaux  converts  much  about  their  future  life  in 
heaven,  and  when  he  was  asked  whether  there  would 
be  plenty  of  whales  and  seals  and  walruses,  and 
whether  the  redeemed  would  have  enough  cod-liver 
oil,  he  suggested  that  they  would  no  longer  want  such 
things.  The  Esquimaux  then  turned  away  and  said: 
"  What  is  the  use  of  your  heaven  if  there  are  no 
whales,  nor  seals,  nor  walruses,  and  if  we  can  have  no 
cod-liver  oil.  If  such  things  don't  exist,  and  if  the 
most  glorious  joys  are  not  even  desirable  in  heaven, 
we  don't  care  for  it  at  all." 

Similarly  among  us,  those  people  who  believe  that 
the  soul  is  a  ghost  which  inhabits  the  body,  do  not 
care  for  any  immortality  unless  it  be  that  of  a  ghost- 
soul.  They  do  not  care  for  continuing  to  live  in  the 
life  of  mankind,  and  are  satisfied  to  hover  about  as 
spirits,  communicating  with  their  beloved  ones 
through  raps  and  other  primitive  manifestations.  They 
are  like  the  prodigal  son,  who  left  his  father's  house 
and  fed  upon  husks  for  want  of  better  food. 

All  the  most  marvelous  feats  of  mediums  do  not 
attain  to  that  wonderful  perfection  for  which  our  best 
performers  in  legerdemain  are  famous.  The  ingenious 
way  in  which  they  present  their  clever  deceits  is  also 
truly  remarkable.  The  worst  thing  about  spiritism  is 
its  dearth  of  ideas.  The  spirits  show  in  their  com- 
munications an  extraordinary  lack  of  spirit.  If  the 


I7o  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

manifestations  were  as  true  and  undeniable  as  day- 
light, they  would  reveal  a  most  pitiable  state  of  spirit- 
life,  "sans  teeth,  sans  eyes,  sans  taste,  sans — every- 
thing." 

It  is  impossible  to  convince  a  spiritist  of  his  errors 
simply  by  showing  that  he  has  allowed  himself  to  be 
duped — so  long  as  he  believes  in  the  immortality  of  a 
ghost-soul.  The  idea  of  immortality  is  strongly  im- 
planted in  the  human  mind,  because  every  living  being 
feels  that  life  cannot  be  annihilated;  as  Goethe  says: 

"  K:itt  Wesen  kann  zu  nichts  zerfailen, 
Das  Evu'ge  regt  sick  fort  in  alien, 
Am  Sein  erhalte  Dich  begliickt! 
Das  Sein  ist  eivig;  denn  Gesetze 
Bewahren  die  le bend' gen  Schatzc 
Aus  welchen  sick  das  All  gesckntiickt." 


"  No  being  into  naught  can  fall. 
The  eternal  liveth  in  them  all. 
In  All-Existence  take  delight,— because 
Existence  is  eternal;  and  fixed  laws 
Preserve  the  ever  living  treasures 
Which  thrill  the  All  in  glorious  measures." 

This  consciousness  of  our  indestructibility  is  so 
direct  and  immediate  that,  in  a  healthy  state  of  exist- 
ence, we  feel  an  eternity  of  life  in  every  moment,  and 
only  with  the  assistance  of  much  contemplative 
thought  and  earnest  reflection  can  we  conceive  at  all 
the  idea  of  death.  Even  if  this  earth,  the  intellectual 
life  of  which  has  found  its  consummation  in  mankind, 
should  break  to  pieces  and  make  a  further  and  direct 
continuance  of  our  ideas,  our  actions,  and  our  soul-life 
impossible,  we  know  that  new  life  will  grow  from  the 
wrecks  of  our  world;  that  new  suns  will  shine  upon 
new  planets  peopled  with  new  generations,  who,  like 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  171 

ourselves,  will  aspire  to  the  same  aims  and  struggle 
for  similar,  perhaps  even  higher,  ideals. 

The  idea  of  immortality  resting  on  a  true  instinct, 
and  on  the  natural  conviction  of  the  indestructibility 
of  life,  cannot  be  easily  blotted  out  from  the  human 
mind,  even  though  mixed  with  errors.  And  the  idea  of 
immortality  need  not  be  eradicated;  we  have  simply 
to  weed  out  the  errors  that  grow  around  it  by  the 
slow  and  long  process  of  patient  education.  Those 
who  have  freed  themselves  of  the  old  errors  that  have 
attached  to  the  conception  of  immortality  look  smil- 
ingly upon  their  former  views,  as  the  man  thinks  of 
his  having  been  a  child  with  childlike  thoughts.  As  the 
Apostle  says:  "When  that  which  is  perfect  is  come, 
then  that  which  is  in  part  shall  be  done  away.  When 
I  was  a  child,  I  spake  as  a  child,  I  understood  as  a 
child,  I  thought  as  a  child;  but  when  I  became  a 
man,  I  put  away  with  childish  things." 

The  old  view  of  considering  our  ego  as  a  real  en- 
tity is,  as  the  sacred  Hindoo  religion  expresses  it 
the  veil  of  Maya  that  lies  upon  our  eyes.  The  man 
who  recognizes  this  ego  to  be  a  sham  has  become  a 
Buddha,  /.  e.,  a  knower — one  who  knows;  one  from 
whose  eyes  the  veif  of  Maya  has  been  taken.  He  no 
longer  lives  the  sham-life  of  egotistic  desires  that 
moves  in  the  circle  of  never  satisfied  wants,  but  he 
has  entered  Nirvana.  The  annihilation  of  the  ego  is 
the  condition  of  a  better  life,  of  a  broader  and  higher 
existence. 

This  truth,  though  not  fully  realized  in  Buddhism, 
was  nevertheless  presaged  by  its  great  founder,  Gaut- 
ama. It  has  been  mixed  with  pessimistic  vagaries 
and  monstrosities,  but  has  at  the  same  time  afforded 
comfort  to  millions  of  people  in  their  troubles  and 


172  HOMILIES  OF  SCI  EN  Cl-.. 

cares  and  agonies  of  death.  This  same  truth  is  the 
basis  of  the  Christian  religion  also,  whose  founder  de- 
mands a  surrender  of  our  egotistic  desires.  Christ 
says:  "Whosoever  shall  loose  his  life  shall  preserve  it."* 
And  this  same  truth  lies  at  the  bottom  of  all  true 
ethics.  We  must  entirely  surrender  our  ego  and  reg- 
ulate all  our  actions  by  a  maxim  fit  to  become  a  uni- 
versal law  (as  Kant  expresses  it).  By  lifting  all  our 
thoughts  and  intents  to  the  broader  interests  of  pro- 
moting life  and  of  promoting  higher  forms  of  life,  we 
cease  to  be  single  and  separate  beings,  and  become 
the  representations  of  cosmic  life,  or  in  biblical  terms, 
"The  householders  of  God." 

The  surrender  of  the  ego  is  a  destruction  of  self 
and  of  selfishness  only,  but  it  does  not  imply,  as  has 
been  assumed  by  pessimistic  teachers  and  by  the 
monks  of  a  world-despising  attitude,  an  annihilation  of 
our  existence  and  of  life  generally.  It  does  not  mean 
death,  but  life;  not  inactivity,  but  work;  not  destruc- 
tion, but  immortality.  It  means  life  and  progress  and 
aspiring  labor,  not  in  the  service  of  egotistic  purposes, 
but  for  the  evolution  of  existence  in  higher  forms,  for 
the  development  of  our  race  and  the  realization  of  the 
ethical  ideal. 

All  labor  for  egotistic  purposes  would  be  vain,  for, 
we  shall  die,  and  the  purpose  for  which  we  have  worked 
would  be  gone.  But  if  we  consider  ourselves  as  house- 
holders who  stand  in  the  services  of  a  higher  purpose 
than  ourselves,  if  we  aspire  for  a  further  evolution 
of  cosmic  life:  the  purpose  of  our  lives  will  not  die 
with  us;  we  shall  continue  to  live  in  our  deeds  and 

*  The  same  idea  is  almost  literally  (though  with  the  addition  of  "  for  my 
sake")  repeated  over  and  over  again.  Luke  xvii.  33;  Luke  ix.  24;  Matt.  x.  39; 
Matt.  xvi.  25;  Mark.  viii.  35;  John  xii.  25;  John  x.  17. 


HO  All  LIES  OF  SCIENCE.  173 

thoughts  and   in  those  who  are  inspired  by  the  same 
ideals;  as  Schiller  says: 

"  Art  thou  afraid  of  death?    Thou  wishest  for  being  immortal? 
Live  as  a  part  of  the  whole;  when  thou  art  gone  it  remains." 

This  view  of  immortality  is  not  less,  not  smaller 
and  more  meager,  than  the  immortality  of  a  ghost-soul, 
whose  very  existence  is  an  unwarranted  assumption. 
It  is  more;  it  is  grander  and  sublimer;  although 
those  who  have  the  veil  of  Maya  upon  their  eyes,  who 
still  believe  in  that  sham-entity  of  the  ego,  cannot 
understand  and  appreciate  it. 

Johannes  Tauler,  of  Strassburg,  one  of  the  pro- 
found mystic  preachers  of  the  beginning  of  the  four- 
teenth century,  said:  "  Wir  miissen  entwerden,  um  Gott 
zu  tver Jen."*  Our  ego  must  be  undone  in  order  for  us 
to  become  God.  The  higher  life  of  immortality  will  be 
ours;  but  the  price  to  be  paid  for  it,  is  a  surrender  of 
the  sham-existence  of  our  ego. 

*  Quoted  from  memory. 


IMMORTALITY  AND  SCIENCE. 


IT  appears  as  though  the  problem  of  immortality 
had  to  be  solved  anew  by  every  generation.  How  often 
has  the  question  "When  a  man  dies  shall  he  live 
again?"  been  answered  in  the  affirmative  as  well  as  in 
the  negative?  But  it  appears  that  a  final  answer  has  not 
as  yet  been  given.  Before  the  court  of  science  the  relig- 
ious answer  "Man  shall  live  again  !"  is  a  mere  asser- 
tion. It  is  the  expression  of  a  sentiment,  and  we  may 
grant  that  the  sentiment  is  quite  legitimate,  it  is  a  strong 
sentiment,  and  to  many  people  it  is  the  most  religious, 
the  most  sacred  sentiment.  It  is  a  holy  hope  without 
which  they  cannot  live.  How  deep  the  roots  of  this 
sentiment  are  buried  in  many  souls  will  be  seen  from 
the  following  extract  from  a  letter  which  I  received  from 
a  well  educated  gentleman  whose  life  has  been  spent  in 
teaching  and  who  was  devoting  the  leisure  of  his  old  age 
to  philosophical  studies.  Having  explained  some  of  his 
scientific  doubts  concerning  the  immortality  of  the  soul 
and  having  rejected  at  the  same  time  the  arguments 
that  are  generally  brought  forth  against  this  belief,  he 
adds  these  thrilling  words  : 

"I  am  now  seventy-four  years  old,  but  instead  of  growing 
more  cheerful  and  assured,  the  reverse  has  been  the  case.  Accord- 
ingly my  present  state  of  soul  is  lamentable  and  pitiful.  Whether 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  175 

I  shall  end  my  life  in  distraction  and  insanity  or  in  confidence  in 
myself  and  God,  I  cannot  say. " 

Granted  that  the  belief  in  immortality  is  a  legitimate 
sentiment ;  it  may  be  a  postulate  and  an  indispensable*, 
condition  of  our  religious  life,  yet  as  long  as  it  remains 
the  mere  expression  of  a  sentiment,  it  is  one-sided  and 
insufficient. 

However,  the  unbeliever's  answer,  which  so  often 
boasts  of  being  the  voice  of  science,  is  no  less  one- 
sided. And  the  denial  of  immortality  is  religiously  not 
so  heterodox  as  most  unbelievers  suppose,  for  it  has 
been  forestalled  in  the  Biblical  sentence  of  Solomon  : 

"  I  said  in  my  heart  concerning  the  estate  of  the  sons  of  men 
that  God  might  manifest  them,*  that  they  might  see  that  they 
themselves  are  beasts.  For  that  which  befalleth  the  sons  of  men 
befalleth  beasts  ;  even  one  thing  befalleth  them  ;  as  the  one  dieth, 
so  dieth  the  other ;  yea  they  have  all  one  breath ;  so  that  a  man 
hath  no  pre-eminence  above  a  beast :  for  all  is  vanity.  All  go  unto 
one  place ;  all  are  of  the  dust,  and  all  turn  unto  dust  again."  Solo- 
mon in  Eccl,  3,  18-20. 

It  appears  from  this  quotation  that  either  side  of 
the  question  is  quite  biblical. 

* 
*  * 

Goethe  says  : 

"  '  Hast  immortality  in  mind 
Wilt  them  thy  reasons  give? ' 
— The  most  important  reason  is 
We  can't  without  it  live." 

The  belief  in  immortality  is  of  paramount  impor- 
tance because  it  is  a  moral  motive.  It  is  perhaps  the 
most  powerful  moral  motive  man  has,  and  it  is  of  great 
importance  because  if  man  regulates  his  life  as  if  he 

*  The  Hebrew  lekaram  ha  Elohitn  is  more  correctly  translated  in  the 
Septuaginta,  on  dtdKpivel  avTovc  6  i?£Of  "that  God  will  distinguish  them." 
The  sense  is  :  I  pondered  on  the  nature  of  men,  whether  God  distinguishes 
them,  but  it  appears  that  they  are  beasts. 


176  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

were  immortal,  he  will  survey  a  larger  field  than  if  he 
limits  his  interests  to  the  narrow  span  of  his  own  indi- 
vidual life.  In  other  words,  the  belief  in  immortality 
is  useful ;  it  induces  men  to  adapt  themselves  more 
fully  to  the  great  social  organism  of  mankind  ;  it  makes 
their  life  more  moral.  On  this  account  it  has  been 
proposed  :  Let  us  foster  the  belief  in  immortality  among 
the  masses,  although  it  may  be  untenable  as  a  scientific 
conception. 

This  proposition  has  been  called  a  pia  Jraus — a 
name  invented  for  its  justification,  and  the  pious  fraud 
method  has  sometimes  received  more  credit  than  it 
deserves.  Is  it  necessary  to  add  that  pious  fraud 
should  be  denounced  as  immoral  and  objectionable 
under  all  circumstances? 

If,  however,  the  belief  in  immortality  is  indeed  use- 
ful, I  maintain  that  it  must  contain  a  truth.  A  falsity 
may  be  useful  once  or  twice,  or  a  hundred  times,  but 
it  cannot  be  useful  in  the  long  run,  for  centuries  and 
millenniums.  The  belief  that  death  is  no  finality  and 
that  man  shall  live  again,  which  so  generally  prevails 
in  all  our  many  churches  and  religious  societies  con- 
tains a  truth  in  spite  of  the  apparent  and  undeniable 
counter-truth  that  man  is  "  like  grass  which  groweth 
up  ;  in  the  morning  it  flourisheth,  and  groweth  up  ; 
in  the  evening  it  is  cut  down  and  withereth."  [Psalm 
xc,  5-6.] 

What  is  this  truth?  Has  science,  especially  through 
the  discovery  of  its  latest  great  truth,  the  doctrine  of 
evolution,  shed  any  new  light  upon  the  problem?  and 
if  it  has,  what  is  the  new  conception  of  immortality  as 
it  appears  from  the  standpoint  of  the  evolutionist? 

The  question  of  immortality  is  not  beyond  the  pale 
of  science.  It  is  not  only  our  right  to  investigate 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  177 

whether  man's  instinctive  longing  for  a  continued  ex- 
istence is  justified,  it  is  also  our  duty  to  attain  to  clear- 
ness concerning  one  of  the  most  important  and  basic 
problems  of  psychology,  and  also  of  ethics.  Also  of 
ethics!  For  the  immortality  idea  forms  the  centre  of  all 
ethical  questions.  It  affords  the  strongest  motive  to 
moral  action.  Indeed  what  is  morality  else  but  the 
regulation  of  our  actions  with  an  outlook  beyond  the 
grave,  it  is  a  building  up  not  only  sufficient  to  hold  for 
our  life-time,  but  for  eternity. 


All  living  beings  have  a  dread  of  annihilation  ; 
everything  that  exists  has  a  tendency  to  continue  its 
existence ;  and  it  will  continue  to  exist,  for  there  is  no 
annihilation.  Being  can  never  change  into  not-being. 
There  is  annihilation  only  in  the  sense  of  dissolu- 
tion. A  certain  combination  ceases  to  exist  in  this  form 
because  it  changes  into  other  forms.  Being  exists,  it 
is  eternal,  and  it  cannot  be  annihilated.  Not-being 
does  not  exist  and  will  never  exist.  Not-being  is  a 
non-entity,  a  mere  fancy  of  our  imagination.  There 
is  no  reason  whatever  for  anything  that  exists  to  fear 
annihilation.  We  may  dread  change,  but  we  need  not 
dread  annihilation, 

Our  dread  of  losing  consciousness  is  not  justified. 
We  lose  consciousness  every  night  in  sleep,  and  it  is 
a  most  beneficial  recreation  to  us.  The  boiling  water 
may  be  afraid  of  being  changed  into  vapor.  But  its 
fear  is  groundless  ;  nature  will  again  change  the  vapor 
into  drops  of  water.  From  the  surface  of  our  planet 
all  organised  life  may  die  off.  Our  solar  system  may 
crumble  away  into  world  dust,  but  what  is  that  in  the 
immeasurable  whirl  of  suns?  There  are  other  parts  of 


I78  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

the  milky  way  in  which  new  worlds  are  forming  them- 
selves, and  we  have  sufficient  reasons  to  believe  that  the 
tide  of  life  ebbs  and  swells  in  the  whole  universe  not 
otherwise  than  autumn  and  spring  change  alternately 
in  the  northern  and  southern  hemisphere  on  this  planet 
of  ours,  not  otherwise  than  waking  and  sleeping,  ac- 
tivity and  rest,  day  and  night  change  in  our  lives.  The 
single  forms  of  life  can  be  destroyed,  but  life  remains 
eternal ;  life  is  indestructible,  it  is  immortal. 

This  truth  has  been  maintained  again  and  again  ; 
et  many  declare  that  it  gives  no  satisfaction  to  them 
unless  their  persons  are  included  in  the  general  law 
of  preservation  and  it  is  generally  supposed  that  be- 
fore the  tribunal  of  science  there  seems  to  be  little 
chance  for  proving  the  persistence  of  personality. 

Nevertheless,  there  is  a  truth  even  in  the  idea  of  the 
preservation  of  the  individual  soul,  and  we  do  not  hesi- 
tate to  say  that  it  is  the  most  important  aspect  of  the 
immortality  idea.  That  the  individual  features  of  our 
souls  are  preserved  has  been  proved  by  evolution. 
Evolution  takes  a  higher  view  of  life.  It  considers  the 
whole  race  as  one  and  recognises  the  continuity  of  life 
in  the,  different  generations. 

Humanity  lives  and  the  individual  is  humanity  in- 
corporated in  a  distinct  and  special  form.  Humanity 
continues  to  live  in  spite  of  the  bodily  deaths  of  the 
individuals — and  truly  it  continues  to  live  in  the  dis- 
tinct and  special,  in  the  personal  and  most  individual 
forms  of  the  individuals.  Bodies  pass  away,  but  their 
forms  are  preserved  and  their  souls  are  here  still.  The 
preservation  of  experience  from  generation  to  genera- 
tion, is  the  condition  of  intellectual  growth.  The 
preservation  of  that  which  is  contained  in  and  consti- 
tutes the  very  personality  of  man  is  the  basis  of  pro- 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  179 

gress.  In  one  word  the  immortality  of  the  soul  makes 
its  higher  evolution  possible. 

Evolution  teaches  a  new  conception  of  the  soul.  It 
destroys  the  old-fashioned  idea  of  an  individual.  It 
shows  that  the  birth  of  an  individual  so  called  is  not 
a  new  beginning,  but  it  is  only  a  new  start  of  prior 
life.  The  baby  which  is  born  to-day  is  a  product  of 
the  sum  total  of  the  activity  of  its  ancestors  from  the 
moment  organised  life  first  appeared  upon  earth.  And 
organised  life,  what  else  is  it  but  a  special  form  of  the 
cosmic  life  that  animates  the  whole  universe? 

What  is  man's  soul  but  his  perceptions  and  thoughts, 
his  desires,  his  aspirations  and  his  impulses  which 
under  certain  circumstances  make  him  act  in  a  certain 
way.  In  short,  man's  soul  is  the  organised  totality  of 
his  ideas  and  ideals.  These  ideas  and  ideals  of  man 
have  been  formed  in  his  brain  through  experience 
which  is  transmitted  from  generation  to  generation, 
and  in  preserving  them  we  preserve  the  human  soul. 

Man's  soul  is  not  the  matter  of  which  he  consists 
at  a  certain  moment.  Man's  soul  is  that  particular  ac- 
tivity of  his  which  we  call  his  thoughts  and  motives. 
So  far  as  our  brother  has  the  same  thoughts  and  the 
same  motives,  he  has  also  the  same  soul  ;  and  since 
the  doctrine  of  evolution  has  become  a  truth  recog- 
nised by  science,  we  can  with  a  deeper  meaning  repeat 
the  ancient  saw  of  the  Hindoo  sages,  "  Tat  twain  asi — 
That  art  thou."  All  living  creatures  are  ourselves  ;  they 
are  in  possession  of  souls  like  ourselves,  and  the  more 
they  feel  and  think  and  act  like  ourselves,  the  more 
have  they  our  souls. 

It  is  true  that  from  this  standpoint  our  souls  are  not 
something  exclusively  our  own,  they  are  not,  as  it 
were  our  private  property.  Our  souls  are  in  part  in- 


i8o  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

herited  and  in  part  implanted  into  us  by  education. 
The  former  part  consists  chiefly  of  our  physical  con- 
stitution and  general  disposition,  the  latter  part  em- 
bracing our  thoughts  and  ideals  is  by  far  the  most  im- 
portant one  ;  it  represents  the  highest  and  most  human 
elements  of  our  souls. 

There  is  accordingly  a  truth  in  the  Buddhistic 
doctrine  of  a  pre-existence  and  migration  of  souls. 
And  this  truth  holds  good  for  the  past  as  well  as  for 
the  future.  Soul  is  not  an  essence,  but  a  certain  kind 
of  activity ;  it  is  a  certain  form  of  impulses,  on  the 
one  hand  conditioned  by  innumerable  experiences  of 
the  past — "inherited  memory  "  it  has  been  called  by 
physiologists — and  on  the  other  hand  conditioning 
in  its  turn  the  future.  This  latter  fact,  viz.  that  our 
present  soul-life  is  conditioning  the  future,  it  will  at 
once  be  understood,  is  the  most  important  ethical 
truth.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  when  we  are  about 
to  act,  that  every  act  of  ours  continues  in  its  conse- 
quences. The  act  may  be  unimportant,  and  the  con- 
sequences may  be  unimportant  too,  nevertheless  it 
continues  with  the  same  necessity  as  that  every  cause 
has  its  effect. 

Death  is  no  finality,  and  we  must  not  form  our  rules 
of  conduct  to  accord  with  the  idea  that  the  exit  of  our 
individual  life  is  the  end  of  all.  Says  W.  K.  Clifford 
in  his  article  "The  Unseen  Universe": 

"  The  soldier  who  rushes  on  death  does  not  know  it  as  extinc- 
tion ;  in  thought  he  lives  and  marches  on  with  the  army,  and 
leaves  with  it  his  corpse  upon  the  battle  field.  The  martyr  can- 
not think  of  his  own  end  because  he  lives  in  the  truth  he  has  pro- 
claimed ;  with  it  and  with  mankind  he  grows  into  greatness  through 
ever  new  victories  over  falsehood  and  wrong. 

For  you,  noble  and  great  ones,  who  have  loved  and  labored 
yourselves  not  for  yourselves  but  for  the  universal  folk,  in  your  time 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  181 

not  for  your  time  only  but  for  the  coming  generations,  for  you  there 
shall  be  life  as  broad  and  far-reaching  as  your  love,  for  you  life- 
giving  action  to  the  utmost  reach  of  the  great  wave  whose  crest  you 
sometimes  were! 

The  preservation  of  the  special  and  most  individ- 
ual contents  of  man's  personality,  the  preservation  of 
that  something  in  him  which  he  regards  as  the  best 
and  most  valuable  part  of  him  is  the  strongest  motive 
for  moral  action.  Even  an  unclear  idea  of  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul  is  therefore  better  and  truer  than  the 
flat  denial  of  it.  And  this  is  the  main  reason  why  the 
churches  survived  in  the  struggle  for  existence  against 
those  people  who  looked  upon  death  as  an  absolute 
finality.  The  ethics  and  ethical  motives  of  the  churches 
come  nearer  the  truth  than  the  ethics  of  those  who  be- 
lieve that  the  death  of  the  individual  ends  all  of  the 
individual,  body  and  soul. 

* 
*  * 

Here  I  might  rest  my  case.  But  I  feel  that  those 
who  attach  to  the  belief  in  immortality  the  idea  of  a 
transcendent  existence  in  some  kind  of  heaven,  are 
disappointed  because  I  have  not  as  they  suppose, 
touched  the  most  vital  point  of  the  subject.  I  grant 
that  from  their  standpoint,  I  am  guilty  of  this  mistake. 
The  reason  is  that  I  have  tried  to  state  the  positive 
view  of  the  problem  and  not  its  negative  aspect. 

Immortality  means  the  continuance  of  life  after 
death  ;  continuance  means  a  further  duration  of  the 
present  state.  If  you  mean  by  immortality,  the  soul's 
existence  in  the  shape  of  a  bodiless  ghost,  you  should 
first  prove  the  existence  of  bodiless  ghosts.  Our  expe- 
rience knows  only  of  souls  which  are  the  activity  of 
organisms  in  their  awareness  of  self.  You  cannot  pre- 
serve what  you  do  not  have,  and  you  should  not  worry 


1 82  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

about  losing  something  you  never  possessed  ;  in  fact 
you  cannot  lose  it.  If  immortality  of  the  soul  means 
an  existence  as  pure  spirit,  this  would  not  be  a  con- 
tinuance of  life  after  death,  but  the  new  creation  of  an 
entirely  different  being  about  the  mere  possibility  of 
whose  existence  we  can  form  no  more  a  conception  than 
about  an  immaterial  world  in  which  there  would  be  no 
display  of  forces.  What  is  the  use  of  racking  our  brains 
as  to  whether  an  ethereal  world  can  exist  and  what 
comfort  can  we  derive  from  a  belief  in  its  possibility? 
The  old  view  of  "  the  resurrection  of  the  body"  as 
it  has  been  worded  in  the  apostolic  creed,  is  certainly 
more  in  agreement  with  modern  science  and  with  the 
doctrine  of  evolution,  than  the  later  belief  of  a  purely 
spiritual  immortality. 


Let  me  add  here  a  few  words  in  answer  to  the 
anxiety  of  the  old  philosopher  who  finds  himself  on  the 
verge  of  despair  because  his  hope  in  an  unbroken  con- 
tinuance of  his  consciousness  after  death  somewhere  in 
an  unknown  cloudland  finds  little  or  no  support  in 
science.  The  scientist,  the  philosopher,  the  thinker, 
should  never  trouble  himself  about  the  resxilts  to  which 
his  inquiries  lead.  A  sentimental  man  who  wants  his 
preconceived  views  proved,  who  hopes  for  a  verifica- 
tion of  favorite  ideas,  is  not  fit  to  be  a  thinker.  I  do 
not  mean  to  say  that  sentiment  is  not  right,  but  that 
sentimentality  is  wrong.  It  is  not  right  that  sentiment 
should  perform  the  function  of  thinking.  Thinking 
requires  courage  and  faith,  it  requires  faith  in  truth. 

Truth  often  appears  to  destroy  our  ideals.  But 
whenever  it  does  destroy  an  ideal,  it  replaces  it  by 
something  greater  and  better.  So  certain  features  of 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  183 

the  old  immortality  idea  are  untenable  before  the  tri- 
bunal of  science  ;  yet  the  idea  of  immortality  which  is 
taught  by  science,  is  surely  not  less  sublime,  not  less 
grand  and  elevating  than  the  old  one.  It  teaches  us 
not  only  a  general  persistence  of  all  that  exists,  but  a 
continuance  even  of  that  which  constitutes  our  personal 
individual  life. 

In  looking  around  and  studying  the  facts  of  life, 
we  find  that  we  can  everywhere  improve  the  state  of 
things ;  there  is  no  place  rn  the  world  where  -there  is 
no  chance  for  improvement,  for  useful  work,  for  pro- 
gress. Yet  there  is  no  chance  whatever  for  improving 
the  cosmical  conditions  of  the  world,  the  order  of  the 
universe,  or  the  laws  of  nature.  And  truly  it  is  good 
for  man  that  he  cannot  interfere  here,  because  he  could 
never  succeed  with  his  improvements.  Dominion  is 
given  to  man  over  the  whole  creation,  but  his  dominion 
ceases  where  the  divinity  of  nature,  the  unchangeable, 
the  eternal,  the  unalterable,  of  cosmic  existence  begins. 

If  there  is  a  God,  it  is  this  something  "that  is  as  it 
is,"  expressed  by  Moses  in  the  word  "}AHVEH. "  Con- 
fidence in  God,  if  it  means  that  we  expect  him  to  at- 
tend to  that  which  can  be  done  by  ourselves  is  highly 
immoral,  but  confidence  in  God  in  the  sense  that  the 
unalterable  laws  ot  nature  just  as  they  are,  are  best  for 
us  and  for  .everything  that  exists,  and  that  it  would 
be  mere  folly  on  our  part  to  wish  them  to  be  different, 
is  a  great  truth,  and  belief  in  it  is  no  superstition  ;  it 
is  true  religion,  it  is  the  faith  of  the  scientist,  of  the 
philosopher,  of  the  thinker ;  it  is  our  trust  in  truth. 

The  idea  of  a  purely  spiritual,  a  transcendent  im- 
mortality would  be  possible  only  if  the  name  and  being 
of  Jahveh,  if  the  revelation  of  God  in  the  reality  of 
nature  were  either  a  great  sham,  a  lie  on  his  part,  or  a 


184  IIOM1LIKS  01-  SCIENCE. 

huge  error  on  our  part.  The  view  that  nature  is  un- 
real and  that  outside  of  this  great  cosmos  of  ours  ex- 
ists another  and  purely  spiritual  world  is  called  dual- 
ism. There  are  no  facts  in  experience  to  support  dual- 
ism or  a  dualistic  immortality.  However,  the  idea  of 
an  immanent  immortality  is  based  upon  facts  demon- 
strable by  science.  It  is  an  undeniable  truth — undeni- 
able even  by  the  dualist,  who  in  addition  to  it  believes 
in  a  purely  spiritual  immortality  somewhere  beyond 
the  skies. 

Goethe  whose  view  of  life  was  an  harmonious  and 
consistent  monism,  expresses  his  belief  in  immortality 
in  the  following  lines : 

"  No  being  into  naught  can  fall, 
The  eternal  liveth  in  them  all. 
In  all-existence  take  delight— because 
Existence  is  eternal  ;  and  fixed  laws 
Preserve  the  ever  living  treasures 
Which  thrill  the  All  in  glorious  measures." 


DEATH,  LOVE,  IMMORTALITY. 


How  is  it  that  our  poets  so  often  set  into  opposi- 
tion the  ideas,  love  and  death  ?  Is  there  a  secret  con- 
nection between  them  ?  and  if  so,  can  that  connection 
be  explained  ? 

The  Hebrew  poet  in  the  song  of  songs,  sings : 

"  Set  me  as  a  seal  upon  thine  heart, 
As  a  seal  upon  thine  arm  : 
For  love  is  strong  as  death  ; 
Jealousy  is  cruel  as  the  grave  ; 
The  coals  thereof  are  coals  of  fire, 
Which  hath  a  most  vehement  Same. 

"  Many  waters  cannot  quench  love, 
Neither  can  the  floods  drown  it ; 

If  a  man  would  give  all  the  substance  of  his  house  for  love 
It  would  utterly  be  contemned." 

Love  is  strong  as  death,  nay  it  is  stronger  ;  for  if 
there  is  any  power  that  can  conquer  the  grimmest  foe 
of  man,  it  is  love.  Love  therefore,  as  the  conqueror 
of  death,  represents  immortality. 

How  many  foolish  conceptions  of  immortality  ob- 
tain among  mortals,  and  how  often  have  they  been  re- 
futed by  the  sages  of  all  creeds  and  of  all  philosophies  ! 
Nevertheless,  the  belief  in  immortality  is  as  firmly 
rooted  in  the  souls  of  men  to-day  as  it  ever  has  been 
in  past  ages.  We  have  of  late  read  that  beautiful  pas- 
sage of  the  American  heretic  who  rejects  all  religion, 
who  hates  Christianity,  and  is  in  every  respect  an  un- 


1 86  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

believer.     He  has  no  ridicule,  no  flippant  word  how- 
ever, for  immortality  ;  he  says  : 

"The  idea  of  immortality,  that,  like  a  sea,  has  ebbed  and 
flowed  in  the  human  heart,  with  its  countless  waves  of  hope  and 
fear  beating  against  the  shores  and  rocks  of  time  and  fate,  was  not 
born  of  any  book,  nor  of  any  creed,  nor  of  any  religion.  It  was 
born  of  human  affection,  and  it  will  continue  to  ebb  and  flow  be- 
neath the  mists  and  clouds  of  doubts  and  darkness  as  long  as  love 
kisses  the  lips  of  death. 

"I  have  said  a  thousand  times,  and  I  say  again,  that  we  do 
not  know,  we  cannot  say,  whether  death  is  a  wall  or  a  door — the 
beginning,  or  end,  of  a  day, — the  spreading  of  pinions  to  soar,  or 
the  folding  forever  of  wings — the  rise  or  the  set  of  a  sun,  or  an 
endless  life,  that  brings  rapture  and  love  to  every  one." 

What  is  death?  Is  it  not  the  destruction  of  that 
form  of  ours  after  it  has  become  unfit  for  further  use  ? 
It  is  maintained  by  the  agnostic  orator  that  we  cannot 
know  whether  it  is  the  rise  or  the  set  of  a  sun.  Let 
me  answer  that  to  us  death  appears  like  the  set  of  a 
sun  ;  but  we  know  that  the  sun  itself  never  sets.*  As 
its  light  never  ceases  to  shine,  so  life  is  immortal. 

What  is  love  but  our  longing  for  immortality  ?  And 
the  old  man  who  looks  upon  his  youthful  sons  and  en- 
joys the  baby-smiles  of  his  grandchild, — does  not  a  new 
vista  of  life  open  to  him  ?  And  is  not  that  life  that 
beams  in  the  eyes  of  his  children  and  grandchildren 
his  very  own  life  ?  Does  he  not  commence  a  new  ca- 
reer in  every  one  of  them  ?  Is  it  mere  sentimentality, 
an  empty  figure  of  speech  if  we  say  that  love  has  con- 
quered death  indeed  ?  Let  death  have  its  prey,  if  we 
but  live  again,  if  instead  of  remaining  as  we  are,  small, 
limited,  egotistic,  we  may  grow  and  expand,  if  new 
chances  of  commencing  life  over  again  are  given  unto 
us,  and  if  guided  by  love  we  can  determine  ourselves, 

*Cf.  Schopenhauer,  Parerga  und  Paralipomena,  Ober  die  UnzerstOrbar- 
keit  unseres  Wesens  durch  den  Tod. 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  187 

how  we  may  be  improved  in  future  generations  !  Let 
death  have  its  prey,  if  our  better  selves,  our  noblest 
thoughts,  our  highest  ideals,  our  best  deeds  will  live 
in,  and  have  a  beneficial  effect  upon,  future  genera- 
tions. 

Love  is  not  limited  to  sexual  love.  Love  is  enthu- 
siasm for  everything  good  and  great ;  love  is  every 
true  and  noble  idea  worth  being  thought  again  and 
again,  and  to  be  propagated  to  the  most  distant  gen- 
erations. 

Our  body,  the  visible  appearance  of  our  ego,  is  sure 
to  die ;  and  there  is  no  ground  for  bewailing  it,  for 
what  is  the  use  of  preserving  just  this  combination  of 
dust  with  all  its  little  defects, — a  combination  whose 
psychical  components  are  a  medley  of  a  few  true  ideas, 
of  a  few  lofty  aspirations  mixed  with  errors  and  preju- 
dices ?  Is  it  worth  while  to  preserve  this  alloy  as  it 
is  ?  O  no  !  It  is  a  tnousana  nines  more  preferable  to 
preserve  the  good,  the  true,  the  ideal  thoughts  only, 
as  Nature  really  does,  and  let  errors  as  well  as  preju- 
dices perish  as  they  deserve. 

Immortality  is  no  fiction,  and  a  craving  for  immor- 
tality is  a  natural  feeling  of  the  human  heart.  True 
immortality  is  not  possible  by  egotism,  for  there  ex- 
ists no  such  a  thing  as  an  immortality  of  the  ego.  True 
immortality  is  realised  by  love  only ;  and  love  is  not 
only  the  affection  toward  our  beloved  ones ;  love  is 
every  aspiration  for  truth,  every  hope  for  progress, 
and  every  enthusiasm  for  the  ideal.  Love  is  the  broad- 
ening of  our  soul  beyond  the  limit  of  the  ego.  But  it 
is  not  enlarged  egoism  either ;  love  has  always  some- 
thing of  a  humanitarian  and  a  universal  spirit.  It 
thrills  our  pulses  with  the  life  of  the  All  and  grants  in 
a  fleeting  moment  the  bliss  of  a  whole  eternity. 


1 88  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

Immortality  is  not  presented  to  us  by  some  gen- 
erous donor  as  a  gift.  It  must  be  gained  by  our  own 
efforts  ;  by  our  struggling  for  it  must  it  be  deserved. 
But  there  is  that  comfort  in  it  that  it  can  be  gained  by 
every  one  who  believes  in  Love. 

In  this  spirit  the  German  poet  says : 

"  Out  of  life  there  are  two  roads  for  every  one  open  : 
To  the  Ideal  the  one,    th'  other  will  lead  unto  death. 

Try  to  escape  in  freedom  as  long  as  you  live,  on  the  former, 
Ere  on  the  latter  you  are    doomed  to  destruction  and  death." 


FREETHOUGHT.  ITS  TRUTH  AND  ITS  ERROR. 


BY  freethought  we  understand  the  right  of  every 
thinker  to  seek  for,  to  find,  and  to  state  the  truth  him- 
self, and  in  calling  freethought  "a  right"  we  are  well 
aware  of  the  fact  that  as  all  rights  are  only  the  reverse 
of  duties,  so  freethought  is  at  the  same  time  the  duty 
of  every  thinking  being  to  seek  for,  to  find,  and  to  state 
the  truth  for  himself.  And  this  duty,  in  our  concep- 
tion of  religion,  is  also  the  highest  religious  duty  of 
man.  The  religion  of  science,  therefore,  may  also  be 
called,  in  this  sense,  the  religion  of  freethought. 

Freethought  stands  in  opposition  to  authoritative 
belief.  There  have  been  and  there  are  still  religious 
teachers  and  institutions  which  maintain  that  man 
should  not  seek  the  truth  for  himself,  because  he  is, 
as  is  claimed,  unable  to  find  it,  and  if  a  man  has  be- 
come convinced  that  he  has  found  some  truth  for 
himself,  he  must  be  mistaken  and  therefore  he  should 
not  be  allowed  to  pronounce  it,  his  errors  being  in- 
jurious to  his  fellowmen. 

Man  accordingly,  because  he  cannot  know,  should 
believe,  he  should  trust  in  what  he  is  told  to  be  the 
truth,  he  should  give  himself  and  his  reasoning  up  to 
the  higher  authority  of  the  church,  "bringing  into 
captivity  every  thought  "  (2  Cor.  x,  5).  Freethought 


igo  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

has  risen  in  revolution  to  the  religion  of  blind  obe- 
dience, and  freethought,  although  first  suppressed  by 
ecclesiastical  and  secular  authorities,  has  come  out 
victorious  in  the  end  and  is  now  almost  generally  rec- 
ognised as  the  cornerstone  of  progress  among  all  the 
nations  which  represent  civilised  humanity. 

Freethought  has  often  been  misunderstood.  It  is 
not  only  misinterpreted  by  the  adversaries  of  free- 
thought,  but  not  unfrequently  also  by  those  who  call 
themselves  freethinkers.  Freethought  does  not  mean 
that  thought  is  free  or  should  be  free,  it  simply  claims 
freedom  for  the  thinker  to  think  undisturbedly  and  un- 
interfered  with  for  himself.  The  thought  of  the  thinker 
however  is  not  free  and  cannot  be  free,  in  the  sense 
that  the  thinker  can  think  however  he  pleases.  Free- 
thought,  it  is  true,  claims  the  liberty  and  the  right  to 
think  for  the  individual ;  but  that  right  being  procured, 
the  individual  can  think  only  by  renouncing  its  indi- 
viduality. We  can  dream  as  we  please,  we  can  imagine 
that  this  or  that  might  be  so  or  so  just  as  we  like. 
But  when  we  think,  we  cannot  come  to  a  conclusion 
just  as  we  please,  we  have  radically  and  entirely  to 
give  up  our  likes  and  dislikes  in  order  to  arrive  at 
what  can  objectively  be  proved  to  be  the  truth. 

The  freethinker  who  claims  not  only  liberty  for 
thought,  but  also  liberty  of  thought  is  gravely  mis- 
taken. There  is  no  liberty  of  thought.  The  mere  idea 
"  liberty  of  thought  "  is  a  contradiction,  for  thought 
is  strict  obedience  to  the  laws  of  thought  and  only  by 
strict  obedience  can  we  arrive  at  the  truth  which  is 
always  the  purpose  and  final  aim  of  thought. 

The  error  that  there  can  be  liberty  of  thought  has 
led  to  another  erroneous  idea  which  is  a  misinterpre- 
tation of  the  principle  of  tolerance.  We  certainly 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  191 

believe  in  tolerance,  but  tolerance  means  the  recogni- 
tion of  other  people's  right  to  express  their  opinion. 
It  does  not  mean  that  any  and  every  opinion  is  of 
equal  value.  Tolerance  demands  that  the  opinions  of 
those  who  seek  the  truth  should  be  heard  ;  they  should 
not  be  put  down  with  violence  or  treated  with  con- 
tempt. Yet  tolerance  does  not  exclude  criticism  ;  it 
does  not  and  should  not  abolish  the  struggle  for  truth 
among  those  who  believe  that  they  have  found  the 
truth.  For  truth  is  objective  and  there  is  but  one 
truth.  If  tolerance  is  based  upon  the  idea  that  truth 
is  merely  subjective,  that  something  may  be  true  to 
me  which  is  not  true  to  you,  and  that  therefore  an  ob- 
jective conception  of  the  truth  is  an  impossibility, 
tolerance  has  to  be  denounced  as  a  superstition.  Tol- 
erance in  this  sense  is  injurious  to  progress,  for  it  pre- 
vents the  search  for  truth  and  leads  to  the  stagnancy 
of  indolent  indifferentism. 

The  expression  objectivity  of  truth  must  not  be 
understood  in  the  sense  that  truth  is  an  object.  Truth 
is  not  a  thing,  but  a  relation.  Truth  is  the  congruence 
of  our  ideas  with  the  reality  represented  in  these  ideas. 
If  the  idea  is  a  correct  representation  of  the  reality 
represented  so  as  to  form  a  reliable  guidance  in  our 
deportment  toward  the  reality,  it  is  true.  That  truth 
can  be  m.ore  or  less  clear,  that  it  can  more  or  less  be 
mingled  with  errors,  that  it  can  be  more  or  less  com- 
plete or  exhaustive  is  a  matter  of  course.  Truth  can- 
not be  possessed  as  objects  are  possessed  so  that  we 
either  have  it  entire  or  not  at  all.  Truth  is  the  pro- 
duct of  our  exertions,  it  is  the  result  of  our  search  for 
truth,  so  that,  the  world  of  realities  with  its  innumer- 
able relations  and  unlimited  changes  being  living  be- 
fore us,  immeasurable,  interminable,  and  eternal,  truth 


1 92  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

can  never  be  complete,  never  perfect,  never  absolute 
in  the  minds  of  mortal  beings.  But  that  proves  only 
the  greatness  of  the  universe  and  the  grandness  of  the 
object  of  our  cognition.  It  is  no  fault  of  truth.  For 
truth  remains  truth,  it  remains  objective,  and  can  as 
such  serve  as  a  guidance  for  conduct,  even  though  it 
be  incomplete  and  imperfect.  We  however  are  free- 
thinkers and  search  boldly  for  a  more  complete  and 
more  perfect  conception  of  truth,  because  we  trust  in 
truth — in  its  objectivity,  its  exclusiveness,  its  univer- 
sality, and  its  authority. 

Freethought,  if  the  word  is  conceived  as  the  right 
and  the  duty  of  everybody  to  think  for  himself,  boldly 
abolishes  the  slavery  of  blind  obedience,  but  it  does 
not  abolish,  as  is  sometimes  erroneously  supposed, 
any  and  every  authority.  On  the  contrary,  its  claim 
is  based  upon  authority  and  can  be  maintained  only 
on  the  strength  of  this  authority.  This  authority  is 
the  objectivity  of  truth,  which  involves  its  uniqueness. 
There  is  but  one  truth.  All  the  many  different  truths 
are  but  so  many  parts  or  aspects  of  truth  ;  and  al- 
though the  different  aspects  of  truth  may  form  con- 
trasts, although  we  may  state  them  in  paradoxical 
formulas,  they  never  can  collide  so  as  to  enter  into  a 
real  and  actual  contradiction.  Whatever  is  positively 
contradictory  to  truth  is  impossible,  for  truth  is  one 
and  is  always  in  harmony  with  itself.  Truth  is  objec- 
tive and  the  right  to  think  is  based  upon  the  confi- 
dence that  correct  thought  which  is  rigidly  obedient 
to  the  laws  of  thought,  will  lead  to  the  cognition  of 
truth. 

Freethought  accordingly  is  not  the  renunciation  of 
all  authority,  it  is  only  the  renunciation  of  human 
authority.  It  is  not  the  abdication  of  obedience,  it  is 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  193 

only  the  abdication  of  blind  obedience.  Freethought 
refuses  to  recognise  special  revelations  not  merely  be- 
cause it  disbelieves  the  reports  made  about  these  spe- 
cial revelations,  not  merely  because  it  declares  them 
to  be  doubtful  and  unreliable.  Freethought  would 
be  weak  if  it  were  based  on  mere  negations  and  dis- 
beliefs, and  that  freethought  which  never  ventures 
farther  than  the  negations  is  weak  indeed.  Free- 
thought  refuses  to  recognise  special  revelation,  be- 
cause it  believes  in  the  universal  revelation  of  truth. 
The  God  of  freethought  is  not  a  God  who  contradicts 
himself,  who  makes  exceptions  of  his  will  by  miracles 
for  those  who  seek  after  signs.  The  God  of  freethought 
is  not  far  from  every  one  of  us.  We  can  seek  him,  if 
haply  we  might  feel  after  him  and  find  him.  For  in 
him  we  live  and  move  and  have  our  being.  He  ap- 
pears in  the  realities  of  nature'and  of  nature's  laws, 
and  his  revelation  is  not  dual ;  it  is  one,  it  is  through- 
out consistent  with  itself  and  every  one  is  welcome  to 
search  for  the  truth. 

Because  God  has  been  conceived  as  a  miracle- 
working  magician,  and  because  the  ecclesiastical  au- 
thorities have  again  and  again  maintained  that  such  a 
God  alone  can  be  called  a  God,  freethought  has  been 
driven  into  the  negativism  of  atheism.  But  if  God  is 
conceived  as  the  objective  reality  in  which  we  live 
and  move  and  have  our  being,  as  that  power  the  cog- 
nition of  which  is  truth  and  conformity  to  which  is 
morality,  freethought  is  by  no  means  either  negative 
or  atheistic.  Freethought  is  by  no  means  a  mere 
negation  of  belief,  it  is  by  no  means  an  overthrow  of 
religion,  or  a  reversal  of  religious  authority.  Free- 
thought  is  a  strong  and  potent  faith.  It  is  the  faith 
in  truth. 


i94  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

The  faith  of  freethought  is  as  a  grain  of  mustard 
seed,  which  indeed,  is  the  least  of  all  seeds,  but  when 
it  is  grown  it  is  the  greatest  among  herbs,  and  becom- 
eth  a  tree,  so  that  the  birds  of  the  air  come  and  lodge 
in  the  branches  thereof.  The  faith  of  freethought  is 
in  the  beginning  a  mere  maxim,  a  hope,  an  ideal. 
But  it  is  founded  on  the  rock  of  ages  ;  it  is  founded 
upon  truth.  The  faith  of  freethought  is  justified.  We 
have  a  right  to  search  for  the  truth  ;  yea,  we  have  the 
duty  to  search  for  the  truth.  And  why?  Because 
truth  can  be  cognised.  Truth  is  not  an  illusion,  not 
a  mere  subjective  fancy,  it  is  founded  upon  objective 
reality.  It  is  an  ideal  that  can  be  approached  more 
and  more,  not  a  mere  vision  but  a  realisable  actuality. 
It  is  a  path,  although  a  steep  path  full  of  thorns,  a 
narrow  and  strait  gate  and  few  there  are  that  find 
it.  But  we  must  find  it  for  all  other  paths  lead  astray. 
And  we  can  find  it,  and  blessed  are  those  who  have 
found  it,  for  it  alone  leads  onward  and  upward  ;  it 
alone  is  the  way  of  life,  it  alone  is  the  road  of  pro- 
gress. 


THE  LIBERAL'S  FOLLY. 


THERE  was  a  man  in  the  Fatherland  to  whom  lib- 
erty was  dearer  than  life.  He  bravely  st  jod  up  against 
the  Government  and  against  the  Church,  for  both 
proved  oppressive,  both  curtailed  the  liberties  of  the 
people.  There  was  no  freedom  in  the  Old  Country, 
and  no  hope  of  ever  attaining  freedom.  So  this  man 
left  his  home  and  the  place  of  his  childhood ;  he  crossed 
the  Ocean  and  came  to  the  Land  where  the  Stars  and 
Stripes  float  in  the  breeze  as  an  emblem  of  the  new 
ideals  that  have  become  actual  facts  under  our  western 
skies. 

This  man  arrived  here  poor,  but  he  was  industri- 
ous, frugal,  and  intelligent.  He  worked  first  as  a  la- 
borer, then  as  a  mechanic,  then  as  an  inventor.  He 
earned  money  and  he  saved  money ;  first  cents,  then 
dollars,  then  hundreds,  and  then  thousands  of  dollars. 
After  a  life  of  energetic  labor  he  had  become  one  of  the 
wealthiest  citizens  of  his  adopted  country. 

He  had  children  and  they  were  educated  according 
to  his  principles.  They  should  not  be  suppressed,  as 
he  had  been  during  childhood  ;  they  were  brought  up 
in  liberty. 

To-day  this  man  is  broken-hearted.  Part  of  his 
wealth  is  gone,  through  the  imprudence  and  folly  of 
his  son.  Everybody  had  seen  it,  but  the  father  had 
not,  that  his  son  brought  up  in  liberty  had  become  a 


196  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

scamp,  a  foolish,  rude  lout,  a  boisterous  scape-grace. 
The  father  had  enjoyed  the  pranks  of  the  frolicking 
child ;  but  he  was  disappointed  when  the  adult  son 
repeated  the  same  pranks  in  business — not  to  mention 
other  dissipations  and  follies. 

Who  is  that  man?  His  name  is  legion.  Look 
around,  and  you  will  recognize  him  at  every  turn  among 
your  acquaintances  and  your  business  friends.  This 
man  can  almost  be  considered  as  the  typical  Liberal. 
It  is  not  always  his  immediate  son  who  thus  shows  the 
folly  of  his  errors;  in  many  cases  it  is  the  grandson 
or  the  child  of  the  grandson.  For  the  virtues  of  the 
parents  remain  a  blessing  to  the  second  and  third  gen- 
eration. The  capital  of  moral  strength  is  not  sud- 
denly exhausted  ;  yet  it  dwindles  away  rapidly. 

The  children  of  men  of  this  stamp  sometimes  still 
remain  in  possession  of  their  father's  wealth.  If  not 
laborious  and  industrious,  yet  they  are  shrewd  busi- 
ness men,  sometimes  unscrupulous  too;  but  they  have 
mentally  and  morally  degenerated,  and  in  the  place  of 
the  republican  simplicity  of  their  grandsire  they  as- 
sume aristocratic  habits.  They  are  ashamed  of  the 
honesty,  the  industry,  and  frugality  of  their  ancestors 
and  make  themselves  ridiculous  as  servile  imitators  of 
European  nobility. 

Let  us  institute  an  aristocracy  of  the  mind,  and 
of  loftiness  of  aspirations.  Rotten  is  every  nobility 
that  boasts  of  wealth.  It  is  a  shame  that  we  Ameri- 
cans, "  the  brave  and  the  free,"  are  always  vaunting 
in  the  face  of  foreigners  the  immeasurable,  inexhaus- 
tible riches  of  our  country.  It  is  a  poor  country  where 
that  is  the  best  to  be  gloried  about,  and  it  is  a  poor 
man  whose  riches  are  everything  of  value  that  he  pos- 
sesses. Let  us  cease  to  admire  tiie  rich  because  they  are 


197 

rich  ;  and  ye,  the  moneyed  aristocracy,  cease  to  pride 
yourself  upon  your  possessions.  The  pride  of  wealth  is 
the  lowest  kind  of  pride,  the  meanest,  the  poorest ! 

But  ye  liberals,  beware  that  ye  are  not  under  the 
same  curse  as  the  typical  liberal.  Ye  liberals  have  a 
great  mission,  for  ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth  :  but 
if  the  salt  has  lost  his  savor,  wherewith  shall  it  be 
salted  ?  It  is  thenceforth  good  for  nothing,  but  to  be 
cast  out  and  to  be  trodden  under  foot  of  men. 

Liberty  is  a  great  thing  and  we  should  give,  if  need 
be,  our  lives  for  liberty.  But  liberty  must  be  deserved  ; 
it  must  be  the  fruit  of  our  labor.  Do  not  be  deceived 
by  the  false  prophets  who  preach  in  high  sounding 
words,  who  promise  happiness  and  enjoyment,  and 
then  decoy  you  into  the  abysses  of  the  pleasures  of  the 
world.  They  come  to  you  in  sheep's  clothing,  but  in- 
wardly they  are  ravening  wolves  ;  they  tell  you  that 
liberty  enlightens  the  world.  Do  not  be  deceived,  for 
it  is  just  the  reverse.  Liberty  does  not  bring  enlight- 
enment, but  enlightenment  brings  liberty  ;  and  there 
is  no  "liberty  which  is  not  based  on  enlightment,  on 
education,  on  culture,  on  morality,  on  wisdom,  and 
good  will. 

The  impoverished  immigrant  is  the  fool  of  whom  the 
gospel  speaks.  His  ground  had  brought  forth  plenti- 
fully, and  he  thought  within  himself,  saying,  What  shall 
I  do,  because  I  have  no  room  where  to  bestow  my 
fruits?  and  he  said,  This  will  I  do  :  I  will  pull  down 
my  barns,  and  build  greater  ;  and  there  will  I  bestow 
all  my  fruits  and  my  goods,  and  I  will  say  unto  my 
soul,  Soul  thou  hast  much  goods  laid  up  for  many 
years ;  take  thine  ease,  eat,  drink,  and  be  merry. 
But  God  said  unto  him,  'Thou  fool,  this  night  thy  soul 
shall  be  required  of  thee,  then  whose  shall  those  things 


198  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

be,  which  thou  hast  provided  ?  So  is  he  that  layeth  up 
treasures  for  himself,  and  is  not  rich  toward  God. 
For  a  man's  life  consisteth  not  in  the  abundance  of  the 
things  which  he  possesseth,  but  in  the  abundance  and 
purity  of  his  soul. 

The  rich  man  was  a  fool  because  over  the  cares  for 
worldly  goods  he  forgot  the  one  thing  that  is  needed. 
He  neglected  his  soul ;  and  his  soul  was  taken  from 
him. 

The  man  to  whom  liberty  was  dearer  than  life  neg- 
lected' his  soul  and  he  neglected  to  build  up  the  souls 
of  his  children.  Thus  they  degenerated  and  involved 
their  old  father  in  their  own  ruin. 

You  liberals  call  yourselves  free-thinkers  and  you  rail 
from  the  platform  at  the  churches  and  at  religion.  Ye 
blind  guides !  Why  behold  ye  the  mote  that  is  in 
your  brother's  eye,  but  perceive  not  the  beam  that  is 
in  your  own  eye  ?  Either,  how  can  you  say  to  your 
brother,  Brother  let  me  pull  out  the  mote  that  is  in 
thine  eye,  when  you  yourself  behold  not  the  beam  that 
is  in  your  own  eye?  Ye  hypocrites,  cast  out  first  the 
beam  of  your  own  eye  and  then  shall  you  see  clearly 
to  pull  out  the  mote  of  your  brother's  eye. 

How  insignificant  is  the  mote  in  the  eye  of  an  or- 
thodox clergyman  who  when  teaching  morality  cannot 
as  yet  dispense  with  the  traditional  fairy  tales,  in  com- 
parison to  the  scoffer  who  rejects  any  and  every  au- 
thority, for  fear  lest  it  may  enslave  the  mind. 

It  is  true  that  our  churches  and  the  dogmatic  tenets 
of  the  churches  are  full  of  errors,  and  religion  as  gen- 
erally taught,  is  defaced  with  superstitions.  But  the 
freethinker  who  casts  away  religion  is  like  the  bear  of 
the  hermit.  To  drive  away  the  fly  on  the  face  of  his 
master,  he  crushes  his  head  and  kills  him. 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  igg 

You  hate  oppression  and  yet  you  make  your  children 
slaves  of  their  follies.  You  love  liberty  but  you  shut 
the  door  to  that  enlightenment  without  which  liberty 
is  impossible.  The  Churches  with  all  their  errors  are 
by  far  superior  to  the  wiseacre  who  destroys  only,  but 
does  not  build  ! 

It  is  not  the  churches  you  should  oppose,  but  the 
errors  of  the  churches  ;  it  is  not  religion  you  should 
destroy,  but  the  superstitions  of  religion  !  If  you  un- 
dermine the  basis  of  ethics  in  the  name  of  Liberty,  then 
you  are  the  salt  that  has  lost  its  savor. 

The  churches  have  repeatedly  refused  to  be  the 
leaders  of  humanity.  Whereat  liberal  thought  was 
called  upon  to  shape  the  future  destinies  of  man.  Ye 
men  of  a  liberal  mind  and  of  progressive  views,  ye  are 
now  expected  to  be  the  masterbuilders,  to  lay  the 
foundation.  But  it  appears  that  on  you  the  word  will 
be  fulfilled  again.  Many  are  called,  but  few  chosen. 
The  many  have  again  rejected  the  only  foundation 
upon  which  the  temple  of  humanity  can  be  raised. 

Our  people  will  pay  dearly  for  the  errors  committed 
by  the  blind  guides.  The  cornerstone  of  man's  wel- 
fare is  religion,  and  if  man  will  live,  he  must  take  care 
of  his  soul.  Tear  down  religion,  neglect  the  most  pre- 
cious treasures  that  are  entrusted  to  you,  the  souls  of 
yourselves  und  your  children,  and  you  will  reap  the 
destruction  which  you  deserve.  The  masses  of  our  na- 
tion seem  to  be  blind  to  the  truth.  They  follow  the  false 
prophets.  But  let  us  not  despair,  for  in  the  end  our 
people  will  bethink  themselves  of  the  right  path.  Then 
religion  shall  be  raised  up  again  and  the  rents  therein 
shall  be  closed.  Then  the  prophetic  word  will  come 
true  again  :  The  stone  which  the  builders  rejected,  the 
same  is  to  become  the  head  of  the  corner ! 


THE  MOTE  AND  THE  BEAM. 


THE  duty  of  the  church  and  of  all  religious  con- 
gregations is  to  preach  morals.  Religion  should  be 
man's  guiding  star  through  life.  Religion,  therefore, 
must  give  in  great  and  plain  outlines  a  conception  of 
the  world  in  which  we  live,  and  teach  us  how  to  reg- 
ulate our  conduct  in  agreement  with  the  facts  of  life, 
for  the  benefit  of  ourselves  and  our  family,  our  nation 
and  humanity.  If  the  church  ceases  to  preach  morals, 
or  if  it  preaches  wrong  morals,  its  influence  becomes 
injurious  to  the  members  of  its  congregation  and 
dangerous  to  society. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  we  must  acknowledge  that  the 
churches  have  done  much  in  preaching  morals  ;  they 
have  accomplished  great  things  in  preserving  commu- 
nities and  making  our  men  and  women  strong  in  en- 
during the  tribulations  of  life  and  resisting  its  many 
allurements.  Let  us  take  one  example  only  which  brings 
home  to  us  the  wholesome  influence  of  religion.  Let 
us  read  a  description  of  the  Puritans  as  they  are 
characterized  by  an  impartial  historian  : 

"The  Puritan  was  made  up  of  two  different  men, 
the  one  all  penitence,  gratitude,  passion  ;  the  other 
proud,  calm,  inflexible.  He  prostrated  himself  in  the 
dust  before  his  Maker.  But  he  set  his  foot  on  the 
neck  of  his  king.  In  his  devotional  retirement,  he 
prayed  with  convulsions,  and  groans,  and  tears.  He  was 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  20 1 

half  maddened  by  glorious  or  terrible  illusions.  When 
he  took  his  seat  in  the  council,  or  girt  on  his  sword  for 
war,  these  tempestuous  workings  of  the  soul  had  left 
no  perceptible  trace  behind  them.  But  those  had 
little  reason  to  laugh  who  encountered  him  in  the 
hall  of  debate  or  in  the  field  of  battle.  These  fanatics 
brought  to  civil  and  military  affairs  a  coolness  of 
judgment  and  an  immutability  of  purpose  which  some 
writers  have  thought  inconsistent  with  their  religious 
zeal,  but  which  were  in  fact  the  necessary  effects  of  it. 
The  intensity  of  their  feelings  on  one  subject  made 
them  tranquil  on  every  other.  One  overpowering 
sentitnent  had  subjected  to  itself  pity  and  hatred,  am- 
bition and  fear.  Death  had  lost  its  terrors  and  pleasure 
its  charms.  Enthusiasm  had  made  them  stoics,  had 
cleared  their  mind  from  every  passion  and  prejudice, 
and  raised  them  above  the  influence  of  danger  and 
corruption." 

The  virtues  of  the  Puritans,  it  cannot  be  disputed, 
preserved  them  in  the  calamities  that  had  been  vis- 
ited upon  them  in  their  old  country ;  they  pointed 
out  to  them  the  way  to  their  new  home,  and  when  they 
arrived  in  the  Mayflower  on  the  shores  of  the  new 
world,  it  was  these  virtues  again  that  made  -their  en- 
terprise successful.  Many  of  the  pilgrims  died  of  cold 
and  hunger ;  yet  the  little  colony  of  emigrants  did  not 
despair,  and  finally  they  triumphed  in  spite  of  every 
adversity.  The  virtues  which  preserved  them,  which 
were  the  cause  of  their  final  success,  what  were  they 
but  religious? 

Compare  the  history  of  the  pilgrims  to  the  fate  of 
those  noblemen  who  landed  in  Virginia  under  Captain 
Newport  in  1607.  Why  was  their  enterprise  a  failure  ? 
Because  they  lacked  the  energy  and  endurance,  the 


202  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

patience  and  self-possession  of  the  Puritans.  They 
had  no  religion  to  teach  them  these  virtues,  and  they 
came  over  in  the  hope  of  becoming  rich  without  work. 
They  expected  pleasures  and  found  innumerable  hard- 
ships. They  sought  happiness  and  were  soon  con- 
fronted with  dangers  and  disasters  which  they  had 
neither  the  courage  nor  the  strength  to  resist  or  to 
overcome. 

Why  is  it  that  among  all  the  colonies  planted  on 
our  shores  the  most  flourishing  were  those  founded  by 
religious  exiles  ? 

Religion  is  a  great  power,  and  the  religious  instinct 
will  do  great  work,  be  it  for  good  or  for  evil.  *  We 
know  that  the  churches  made  mistakes  ;  we  know  that, 
through  persecution,  they  induced  people  to  commit 
most  heinous  crimes,  that  they  opposed,  and  oppose 
still,  the  progress  of  science.  And  since  they  suffer 
our  conception  of  the  world  and  life  to  become  dis- 
torted, their  moral  preaching  is  in  danger  of  leading 
astray.  We  object  to  their  oppression  and  protest 
against  the  fetters  with  which  they  shackle  our  minds 
and  endeavor  to  tie  us  down  to  certain  traditional 
errors  which  they  regard  with  reverence. 

The  most  violent  assailants  of  the  churches  are 
certain  freethinkers  who  declare  that  all  religion  is  su- 
perstition and  that  religion  must  be  killed  like  a  wild 
beast,  a  turbulent  hyena ;  we  must  rid  ourselves  of 
religion  as  if  it  were  obnoxious  vermin  or  a  lingering 
disease.  These  freethinkers,  as  a  rule,  look  upon 
clergymen  as  imposters  and  hypocrites  and  are  in  their 
turn  by  faithful  believers  regarded  in  a  similar  and  not  a 
more  favorable  light.  Most  of  these  freethinkers  are  as 
honest  as  their  adversaries,  yet,  like  them,  they  are 
one-sided.  They  step  forth  and  say  to  the  people  : 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  203 

"  Why  do  you  allow  yourself  to  be  imposed  upon  by 
religion  ?  Religion  is  an  invention  of  kings  and  priests 
to  keep  the  masses  of  the  people  in  subjection.  Re- 
ligion is  a  humbug  and  the  rules  prescribed  by  re- 
ligion need  not  be  followed.  Live  as  you  please  and 
take  out  of  life  whatever  pleasures  you  can  get.  That 
is  the  sum  and  extract  of  all  philosophy." 

The  narrow  orthodoxy  of  the  churches  is  the  mote 
in  the  eye  of  our  clergy.  How  many  of  our  ministers 
feel  in  duty  bound  to  impress  the  dogmas  of  their  sect 
upon  their  congregation  and  forget  the  main  duty  upon 
which  all  their  work  should  abut,  viz.,  to  preach 
morals,  to  make  of  the  souls  that  are  entrusted  to  their 
care,  characters  strong  enough  to  face  the  adversities 
of  life,  to  endure  troubles,  and  to  resist  the  dangers  of 
temptation.  Clergymen  generally  forget  that  the  most 
important  moral  rule  is  the  love  of  truth,  and  truth 
must  be  judged  by  scientific  evidence,  not  by  its  agree- 
ment with,  or  disagreement  from,  the  tenets  of  their 
creed. 

Such  is  the  mote  in  the  eye  of  the  church.  But  the 
beam  in  the  eye  of  destructive  freethinkers  is  their 
unqualified  contempt  of  religion.  They  have  become 
blind  to  the  importance  of  morality,  and  the  preach- 
ing of  morality.  Not  as  if  they  were  immoral  them- 
selves, or  intended  to  spread  immorality  among  our 
people,  which  as  they  well  know  would  lead  us  into 
speedy  ruin  ;  but  because  the  beam  in  their  eye,— their 
contempt  of  all  religion, — has  made  them  blind  to  the 
fact  that  their  own  morality  is  a  treasure  inherited 
from  their  religious  forefathers,  a  treasure  that  will 
soon  be  wasted  in  the  coming  generations  of  their  ir- 
religious descendants. 

Churches  have  faults,  and  some  of  their  faults  are 


2o4  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

most  grievous.  Their  dogmas  are  untenable  unless  a 
free  interpretation  be  used.  Yet  their  ethics,  although 
wrong  in  some  points,  is  upon  the  whole  right.  It  is 
the  ethics  of  the  churches  that  kept  them  alive.  It  is 
the  virtues  of  religious  citizens  that  make  colonies  and 
nations  thrive.  Iconoclasts  are  right  when  protesting 
against  the  faults  of  the  churches,  against  the  false 
pretensions  of  religious  authorities.  But  they  are 
wrong  when  they  attempt  to  destroy  the  institutions 
created  for,  and  devoted  to,  the  purpose  of  preaching 
morals. 

The  creed  of  the  pilgrims  was  wrong  in  many 
respects ;  yet  it  was  right  in  so  far  as  it  made  of  simple- 
minded  men  heroes,  who  could  become  the  fathers  of 
a  great  nation  of  liberty.  The  fathers  were  in  their 
way  freethinkers  also  ;  but  they  were  constructive  free- 
thinkers, not  destructive.  They  found  some  flaws  in 
the  religion  that  was  taught  them  ;  yet  they  did  not 
therefore  throw  away  the  whole  ideal  of  religious  life. 
They  effaced  the  flaw  as  well  as  they  understood  to 
do,  and  preserved  their  ideals. 

Life  is  a  school.  All  of  us  are  given  a  work  to  do. 
Among  the  scholars  in  the  school  of  life,  there  are  two  : 
the  orthodox  believer  and  the  agnostic  nonbeliever. 
The  one  is  plodding  quietly  along  and  tries  to  solve  the 
problem  given  him  ;  yet  he  makes  mistakes.  The  other 
does  not  try  to  solve  the  problem,  he  thinks  that  the 
problem  is  insolvable,  and  seeing  some  blunders  in  the 
lesson  of  his  schoolmate,  attempts  to  erase  the  latter's 
work  entirely.  It  is  well  that  the  agnostic  should  call 
attention  to  the  errors  of  the  orthodox,  but  the  attempt 
to  cast  away  that  which  is  true  and  good  in  religion  to- 
gether with  its  errors  cannot  be  recommended.  There 
is  a  mote  in  the  eye  of  the  one,  and  the  other,  pre- 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  205 

sum  ing  to  be  the  corrector  and  leader  of  his  comrade, 
is  not  aware  of  the  beam  in  his  own  eye. 

Liberalism  will  never  succeed  in  conquering  the 
orthodoxy  of  the  churches  unless  it  offers  something 
better  than  the  ethics  of  ecclesiasticism.  Liberalism 
must  teach  us  morals,  and  its  morals  must  be  better 
than  those  of  the  church,  its  sermons  must  be  based 
upon  scientific  truth,  and  must  apply  to  the  practical 
issues  of  life.  Liberalism  should  be  positive  and  con- 
structive, not  negative  and  destructive.  It  is  true  that 
it  was  necessary  to  destroy  the  old  errors,  but  now  we 
have  done  with  tearing  down  and  we  intend  to  use  the 
empty  space  to  build  upon  it  greater  and  nobler  ideals. 

Let  liberalism  be  more  than  hostility  toward  anti- 
quated traditions  ;  let  it  cease  to  preach  hatred  of 
religion  ;  and  liberalism  will  rise  in  its  grandeur  to  be 
the  religion  of  mankind. 


SUPERSTITION  IN  RELIGION  AND  SCIENCE. 


IT  is  not  an  uncommon  attitude  among  freethinking 
people  to  see  all  the  glories  of  science  in  its  ideal  per- 
fection, and  to  discredit  religion  with  the  worst  defi- 
ciencies it  ever  possessed  and  thus  to  identify  it  in 
this  contrast  as  superstition  pure  and  simple.  This 
attitude  is  wrong,  yet  it  is  the  natural  consequence  of 
religious  dogmatism.  A  dogmatic  believer  when  com- 
paring science  and  religion,  is  apt  to  recognise  the 
evolutionary  element  in  science  and  to  ignore  it  in 
religion.  He  knows  very  well  that  the  present  state 
of  science  is  not  its  aim  and  end,  our  present  knowl- 
edge is  not  absolute  truth  and  the  full  realisation  of 
the  scientific  ideal.  Yet  he  is  inclined  to  consider  his 
religion  as  absolute  and  as  a  model  of  perfection.  It 
is  not  natural  that  the  unbeliever  who  sees  the  faulti- 
ness  of  the  present  religious  conceptions,  CDndemns 
religion  itself  for  the  sake  of  the  errors  of  religious 
people. 

But  is  not  the  dogmatic  view  of  religion  a  plain  and 
obvious  mistake.  Have  not  the  dogmas,  in  spite  of 
all  the  attempts  to  make  them  rigid  and  immutable, 
changed  constantly  and  are  they  not  even  now  almost 
visibly  changing  in  all  the  churches?  Religion  is  as 
little  absolute  truth  as  is  science.  Both  evolve  and 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  207 

they  must  evolve,  both  grow  and  develop  and  they 
develop  together.  A  progress  of  science  is  always  a 
prophesy  for  a  progress  of  religion.  And  this  evolu- 
tionary power,  far  from  being  an  evil,  is  their  life. 
Without  the  faculty  of  growth  science  as  well  as  re- 
ligion would  be  dead. 

During  the  last  few  centuries  all  the  sciences  have 
been  revolutionised  by  new  discoveries,  just  as  our 
civilisation  has  been  modified  by  the  many  inventions 
made  in  all  branches  of  life  and  labor.  It  is  but  nat- 
ural that  religion  also  should  be  revolutionised  and 
based  upon  other  principles  than  heretofore.  This 
will  be  accomplished  whether  we  champion  or  oppose 
the  new  view  of  religion,  for  it  is  the  outcome  of  an 
evolutionary  process  in  the  growth  and  development 
of  mankind. 

The  fact  is  well-established  and  yet  little  appre- 
ciated that  science  has  just  as  well  its  orthodoxy  as 
religion.  Science  in  former  centuries  was  just  as  du- 
alistic  as  religion.  And  the  history  of  civilisation  is 
the  slow  process  by  which  man  frees  himself  from  su- 
perstition. Superstition  is  not  necessarily  a  religious 
error.  By  far  the  most  numerous  superstitions  are 
scientific  superstitions.  Superstition  is  the  assump- 
tion of  an  error  as  if  it  were  an  axiomatic  truth  ;  and 
one  of  the  most  important  causes  of  superstition  is  the 
dualism  of  former  centuries.  Those  who  cherished 
their  superstition  as  absolute  truth  assumed  the  name 
orthodox,  viz.  the  men  whose  view  is  correct.  They 
denounced  the  heterodox  as  revolutionists  who  de- 
stroyed science  as  well  as  religion. 

Copernicus,  Kepler,  Galileo  and  other  great  scien- 
tists were  to  the  scientists  of  their  era  heterodox,  just 
as  Luther  was  denounced  as  a  heretic  and  infidel  by 


zo8  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

the  church.  Socrates  was  executed  because  he  was 
said  to  be  irreligious,  and  Christ  was  crucified  for 
blasphemy. 

If  to  day  a  scientist  would  try  to  establish  a  new— 
although  correct — explanation  of  certain  natural  phe- 
nomena, which  appeared  to  be  contrary  to  the  present 
views  of  his  colleagues,  it  is  certain  that  his  theory 
would  for  a  long  time  be  rejected  and  ridiculed.  La 
Marck  and  Darwin  have  experienced  the  truth  of  this 
fact.  Only  by  great  efforts  did  they  and  their  follow- 
ers overcome  the  old  superstition  of  the  orthodox 
pharisees  of  science. 

The  superstition  of  former  ages,  the  erroneous  du- 
alism which  boasted  so  much  of  its  infallible  ortho- 
doxy,-was  not  only  an  attribute  of  the  religion  of  the 
middle  ages  but  also  of  its  philosophy  and  science. 
It  is  but  a  few  decades  since  physiology  got  rid  of  the 
dualistic  view  of  a  life-principle,  or  vital  power.  Even 
to-day  our  chemists  speak  of  organic  and  inorganic 
chemistry,  as  if  two  different  kinds  of  elements  ex- 
isted, the  living  and  the  dead.  This  view  and  its 
whole  terminology  are  but  scientific  superstitions. 

It  is  not  the  place  here  to  point  out  why  the  path 
to  truth  necessarily  leads  through  errors.  Nor  can  we 
here  explain  at  length  how  the  errors  of  old — far  from 
being  absolute  errors — were  the  germs  of  truth.  They 
contained  golden  grains  of  truth,  and  the  faithful  en- 
quirer winnowed  them  until  the  grain  was  separated 
from  the  chaff.  Thus  Copernicus  and  Kepler  were 
guided  in  their  great  discoveries  by  the  old  supersti 
tious  notions  of  the  Pythagorean  philosophy.  They 
believed  a  priori  in  the  harmony  of  the  spheres. 

Also  another  fact  can  only  be  hinted  at :  Humanity 
does  not  consist  of  single  individuals  but  forms  one 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  209 

great  unity.  The  single  individual  is  merely  the  rep- 
resentative of  the  ideas  of  his  age,  which  are  the  re- 
sults of  a  long  process  of  evolution.  This  will  easily 
explain  why  certain  ages  bear  a  certain  Uniform 
character. 

There  are,  no  doubt,  exceptions.  Some  men  are 
greatly  in  advance  of  their  times  and  some  lag  behind. 
But  such  exceptions  confute  our  argument  as  little  as 
cases  of  atavism  overthrow  the  theory  of  evolution. 

I  argued  with  many  different  persons  upon  the 
topics  of  religion  and  science,  and  found  that  apart 
from  a  difference  of  definitions,  fundamentally  they 
held  almost  the  same  opinions.  The  atheist  and  the 
monotheist  have  different  definitions  of  God.  The 
former  rejects,  the  latter  accepts,  the  idea  of  God,  but 
de  facto  both  agree  much  more  than  they  are  them- 
selves aware  of.  The  Roman  Catholic  priest  of  to-day 
and  Robert  Ingersoll  are  more  alike  in  their  philosoph- 
ical ~v\w§  than  is  generally  supposed,  but  we  must 
eliminate  the  differences  of  their  terminology  and 
translate  the  language  of  the  one  into  that  of  the  other. 
A  free-thinker  of  to  day  differs  much  more  from  a  free- 
thinker of  mediaeval  times  than  from  an  orthodox  be- 
liever of  to-day  ;  and  a  Lutheran  clergyman  differs  in 
the  same  degree  from  Luther  himself.  What  Lutheran 
clergyman  would  throw  his  inkstand  at  the  devil  or 
order  a  misformed  babe  to  be  drowned,  because  it  may 
perhaps  be  a  changeling  ?  What  Calvinist  of  to-day 
would  burn  a  man  who  had  a  peculiar  idea  of  the 
Trinity  of  God.  The  shortcomings  of  religious  men 
are  not  errors  of  religion ;  just  as  the  ignis  vita  was 
not  an  error  of  science.  Errors  and  superstitions  are 
errors  of  men  and  of  their  times,  and  our  own  time 
has  likewise  its  full  share  of  them.  The  scientific  and 


210  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

the  religious  spirit  is  constantly  endeavoring  to  free 
humanity  from  its  many  errors. 

Taking  this  ground,  I  fail  to  see  why  religion  should 
be  identified  with  the  errors  of  the  past  and  science 
credited  with  all  the  great  ideals  of  the  future.  Why 
shall  not  religion  just  as  well  as  science  be  freed  from 
the  shackles  of  superstition?  Absolute  truth  never 
existed  either  in  religion  or  in  science.  Scientific 
definitions  and  religious  dogmas  have  changed  from 
century  to  century,  but  the  religious  spirit  and  scien- 
tific spirit  remained  the  same.  The  scientific  spirit  is 
characterised  by  a  pure  love  of  truth,  and  true  relig- 
iosity means  man's  consciousness  of  being  in  unity 
with  the  whole  Cosmos — whether  it  is  called  the  All 
or  God,  Brahma  or  Nirvana  or  even  Nought.  The 
religious  sentiment  is  a  powerful  factor  in  every  human 
being.  It  prompts  us  to  live  in  accordance  with  what 
we  call  ethics,  and  by  it  our  ethical  instincts  must  be 
explained.  The  professedly  irreligious  possess  this 
religiosity  sometimes  stronger  than  those  who  profess 
a  certain  religion.  Call  it  other  than  religion,  if  you 
please,  but  the  rose  would  be  a  rose  with  any  other 
name.  In  this  sense  Schiller  said  : 

"  Which  religion  I  have  ?    There  is  none  of  all  you  may  mention 
That  I  embrace  ;  and  the  cause  ?     Truly,  religion  it  is  !  " 

The  religious  spirit  and  the  scientific  spirit  are  so 
much  in  harmony  that  one  cannot  exist  without  the 
other.  All  the  prominent  men  of  science  were  sin- 
cerely religious — they  were  not  orthodox  ;  how  could 
they  be  so  narrow-minded  if  they  were  to  be  the  rep- 
resentatives of  progress  ?  They  were  intoxicated,  as 
it  were,  with  their  zeal  for  truth.  They  felt  that  the 
heart-blood  of  human  progress  was  throbbing  in  their 
veins.  A  greater  power  than  themselves  had  taken 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  211 

possession  of  them.  They  were  conscious  of  working 
and  suffering  for  a  great  cause,  in  comparison  to  which 
their  individual  loss  and  anxieties  were  but  fleeting 
trifles.  The  same  can  be  said  of  great  artists.  Such 
sentiment  is  the  true  religious  spirit  of  which  Goethe 
speaks : 

Wer  Wissenschajt  und  Kunst  besitzt, 
Der  hat  auch  Religion; 
Wer  aber  beide  nicht  besitzt, 
Der  habe  Religion. 

The  man  who  science  has  and  art, 
He  also  has  religion. 
But  he  who  is  devoid  of  both, 
He  surely  needs  religion. 

And  this  leads  us  to  another  point.  Science  is  the 
privilege  of  the  few,  but  religion  may  be  had  by  the 
masses.  Not  everybody  can  be  a  scientist,  but  every- 
body can  be  and  should  be  imbued  with  the  true  reli- 
gious sentiment.  Religion  is  not  a  deep  philosophy, 
it  does  not  take  the  profound  learning  of  a  scholar  to 
recognise  that  the  individual  is  but  a  part  of  a  greater 
whole.  Every  child  can  know  that ;  and  every  child 
should  know  it,  not  by  being  taught  so  at  school,  but 
by  seeing  its  parents  act  accordingly. 

A  true  scientist  and  a  great  artist  conceive  that  all 
natural  phenomena  are  but  so  many  instances  of  the 
IIAN  KAI'EN.  Nature  is  one  and  the  same  every- 
where. Science  and  art  are  based  upon  this  truth. 
Accordingly,  every  true  scientific  man,  every  great 
artist  must  eo  ipso  be  possessed  of  the  rjght  religious 
spirit.  However,  those  who  cannot  intellectually  grasp 
this  truth,  must  needs  be  religious  or  they  will  sink 
below  the  level  of  the  savage  and  the  brute. 

What  we  want  is  religion  for  the  masses  ;  not  ortho- 
doxy to  make  them  bow  down  and  worship  idols,  b  it 
a  religion  that  makes  the  individual  feel  himself  the 


212  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

representative  of  a  higher  power,  of  his  community, 
of  his  nation,  of  humanity.  A  nation  in  which  the 
masses  are  religious  in  this  sense  will  be  truly  repub- 
lican, for  every  citizen  will  b'e  a  representative  of  the 
sovereignty  of  the  nation — of  the  sovereignty  with  all 
its  prerogatives  as  well  as  its  obligations. 


THE  QUESTIONS  OF  AGNOSTICISM. 


THERE  are  questions  that  rise  unasked  ;  they  ob- 
trude upon  the  human  mind  and  cannot  be  banished, 
because  they  lie  in  the  nature  of  things.  These  ques- 
tions so  long  as  they  remain  unanswered,  will  cause 
an  unrest  in  our  soul,  a  spiritual  thirst  that  can  only 
be  quenched  by  the  spiritual  waters  of  life — by  truth 
and  by  a  joyous  submission  to  truth  ;  they  will  appear 
as  a  strong  and  unsatisfied  yearning  for  something 
that  will  afford  help  in  time  of  need,  and  that  shall 
bring  light  when  we  sit  in  darkness. 

This  dearth  of  peace  of  soul  has  created  religion, 
it  has  created  the  great  cosmic  ideal  of  mankind,  the 
idea  of  God  as  the  Lord  who  made  heaven  and  earth, 
who  will  be  our  keeper  and  who  will  preserve  our  soul. 
This  dearth  found  expression  in  David's  psalm  : 

"  As  the  hart  panteth  after  the  water  brooks,  so  panteth  my 
soul  for  thee,  O  God. 

"  My  soul  thirsteth  for  God,  for  the  living  God  ;  when  shall  I 
corns  and  appear  before  God  ? 

"  My  tears  have  bean  my  meat  day  and  night,  while  they  con- 
tinually say  unto  me,  '  Where  is  thy  God  ? '  " 

Our  world-conception  has  greatly  changed  since 
David's  time,  and  together  with  it  our  religious  views 
have  been  modified.  But  the  same  yearning  obtains 
for  peace  and  soul ;  because  according  to  the  nature 
of  things  the  same  questions  rise  again  and  again, 
sternly  demanding  to  be  answered. 


2i4  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

The  same  anxiety  as  in  David's  psalm  pervades 
a  communication  presented  to  me  some  time  ago, 
which  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  our  age  formu- 
lates the  thirst  of  the  soul  for  a  satisfactory  solution 
of  the  eternal  problem  of  life  in  definite  queries.  The 
letter  is  characteristically  signed  "Agnostic,"  and 
reads  as  follows  : 

"  Will  }ou  kindly  answer  the  following  questions  ?  The  future 
of  religion  depends,  it  seems  to  me,  on  the  answers  given. 

1)  Has  the  universe  an  ethical  purpose  or  tendency  ? 

2)  Have  we  any  reason  to  believe  that  anything   correspond- 
ing to  human  life,  feeling,  or  intelligence,  exists  now  in  other  parts 
of  the  universe,  or  will  come  into  existence  again,  after  the  de- 
struction of  the  earth  ? 

3)  Are  there  any  grounds  for  hope  that  pain  will  be  dimin- 
ished and  pleasure  increased,  to  any  great  extent,  in  the  future  of 
humanity  ? 

4)  According  to    the  doctrine  of  Evolution,  will  not  the  earth 
and  the  whole  solar  system,  in   the  distant  future,  become,  once 
more,  a  mass  of  homogeneous  vapor,  destitute  of  life,  as  the  term 
'  life  '  is  generrlly  understood  ? 

5)  If  the  universe  is   an  infinite  machine,  which  mercilessly 
crushes  between  its  cogs,  not  only  the  individual,  but  eventually 
the  race,  must  not  the  contemplation  of  the  universe  awaken  feel- 
ings of  melancholy  and  despair  in  the  human  heart  ?    And  are  not 
such  feelings  destructive  to  religion  and  ethics  ?  " 

*         *     '    * 
This  is  an  age  of  eager  research.    Wheresoever  we 

look,  we  find  unanswered  questions  ;  and  many  people 
shrug  their  shoulders  in  despair,  because  they  do  not 
expect  that  these  questions  will  ever  be  answered. 
Such  people  call  themselves  agnostics. 

There  are  three  attitudes  of  agnosticism.  There 
is,  first,  the  agnosticism  of  indifference.  This  is  the 
position  of  those  who  do  not  wish  to  be  bothered 
with  questions  which  they  feel  incompetent  to  answer 
and  which  they  generally  care  nothing  about.  The 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  215 

agnosticism  of  indifference  is  passive  ;  it  is  a  philoso- 
phy of  indolence,  which  boasts  of  depth  where  be- 
cause of  its  own  littleness  it  has  not  found  bottom. 

The  second  kind  of  agnosticism  is  an  agnosticism 
of  despair.  It  is  the  agnosticism  of  "world-pain," 
and  has  been  characterised  by  Heinrich  Heine  in  the 
following  lines  : 

"  By  the  sea,  by  the  desolate  nocturnal  sea, 

Stands  a  youthful  man, 

His  breast  full  of  sadness,  his  head  full  of  doubt. 
And  with  bitter  lips  he  questions  the  waves : 

'  Oh  solve  me  the  riddle  of  life  1 

The  cruel,  world-old  riddle, 
Concerning  which,  already  many  a  head  hath  been  racked. 

Heads  in  hieroglyphic-hats, 

Heads  in  turbans  and  in  black  caps, 

Periwigged  heads,  and  a  thousand  other 

Poor,  sweating  human  heads. 
Tell  me,  what  signifies  man  ? 
Whence  does  he  come  ?  whither  does  he  go  ? 
Who  dwells  yonder  above  the  golden  stars  ? ' 

The  waves  murmur  their  eternal  murmur, 
The  winds  blow,  the  clouds  flow  past. 

Cold  and  indifferent  twinkle  the  stars, 
And — a  fool  awaits  an  answer.* 

There  are  men  of  great  talents  who  have  grappled 
with  the  questions  of  the  day,  yet  have  failed  to  solve 
them.  They  feel  their  labors  lost  and  their  energy,  spent 
in  thought,  wasted.  But  because  a  genius  has  failed  to 
solve  a  problem,  is  it  really  absolutely  insolvable  ? 
And  if  it  is  absolutely  insolvable,  would  it  not  in  that 
case  be  a  pseudo-problem  ?  A  pseudo-problem  is  a 
question  which  is  formulated  on  a  misconception  of 
facts  ;  it  is  unanswerable  because  it  is  misstated.  The 
problem  of  existence  is  unanswerable  perhaps,  not  be- 
cause the  world  is  out  of  joint,  but  because  the  posi- 
tion of  the  questioner  is  wrongly  taken. 

The  third  kind  of  agnosticism  is  the  agnosticism 

*  Translated  by  Emma  Lazarus. 


216  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

of  science.  We  might  call  it  with  equal  appropriate- 
ness either  the  agnosticism  of  ignorance  or  the  agnos- 
ticism of  wisdom.  For  it  is  a  wise  confession  of  ig- 
norance. This  confession  is  not  made  in  general  terms, 
that  science  is  vanity  and  that  all  philosophy  is  trivial. 
Such  general  statements  have  no  meaning,  except 
that  they  place  the  sage  and  the  fool  upon  the  same 
level.  The  agnosticism  of  ignorance  is  the  agnosti- 
cism of  science.  It  is  an  active  attitude  of  agnosticism. 
It  states  definitely  a  special  ignorance  of  ours,  and 
formulates  it  in  exact  terms. 

The  statement  of  such  a  specified  ignorance  is 
called  a  problem,  and  although  it  may  sometimes  be 
extremely  difficult  to  solve  a  problem,  the  agnosti- 
cism of  science  never  despairs  of  a  final  solution.  On 
the  contrary,  every  problem  is  formed  with  the  out- 
spoken hope  that  in  the  end,  it  will  be  solved.  The 
history  of  science  is  a  continuous  conquest  of  the 

hydra-like  growing  heads  of  the  agnosticism  of  science. 

* 
*  * 

There  are  certain  questions — viz.,  the  moral  ques- 
tions— the  nature  of  which  is  such  as  to  demand  an 
immediate  answer.  "What  are  the  rules  of  conduct? 
and  what  are  the  notions  according  to  which  we  have 
to  form  these  rules  of  conduct?" — are  questions  that 
are  urgent.  We  live  and  act ;  and  we  cannot  wait 
until  science  has  settled  all  the  problems  the  solution 
of  which  in  this  or  in  that  way  might  influence  our 
actions.  We  have  to  act  as  best  we  can.  The  notions 
in  agreement  with  which  our  whole  demeanor  has  to 
be  regulated,  are  called  "  religious  "  ;  and  it  is  natural 
that  religious  ideas  through  their  extraordinary  prac- 
tical importance  are  of  an  extremely  conservative  na- 
ture. They  are  laid  down  as  the  most  sacred  posses- 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  217 

sion  of  mankind,  the  holiest  heirloom  received  from 
our  ancestors.  This  conservatism  is  natural,  but  it 
will  become  dangerous  if  it  prevents  the  revision  of 
religious  ideas  through  the  best,  and  truest,  and  most 
earnest  critique  that  can  be  furnished  by  science.  It 
will  become  detrimental  if  it  produces  thoughtlessness, 
and  makes  a  generation  accept  without  critique  what- 
ever it  has  been  taught  to  believe. 

It  lies  in  the  very  nature  of  religious  problems  that 
they  must  be  solved  again  and  again.  Every  one  of 
us  has  to  solve  them  for  himself  as  best  he  can.  It 
may  be  stated  parenthetically  that  most  religions  are 
creeds;  but  they  need  not  be  creeds  and  the  Religion 
which  we  advocate  is  the  Religion  of  Science. 

The  questions  proposed  by  Agnostic  are  in  their 
nature  religious  questions,  and  we  answer  them  very 
briefly  as  follows  : 

1)  "Has  the  Universe  an  ethical  purpose  or  ten- 
dency? " 

If  this  question  is  to  be  answered  by  Yes  or  No,  we 
should  say,  Yes — the  universe  has  an  ethical  tendency. 
But  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  this  way  of  putting 
the  question  is  incorrect.  We  should  ask  whether  the 
universe  has  any  definite  tendency,  or  whether  it  has 
no  definite  tendency  whatever,  without  calling  its  ten- 
dency either  moral  or  immoral.  If  the  universe  had 
no  definite  tendency  it  would  be  no  universe,  no  uni- 
tary world,  no  cosmos,  but  a  jumble  of  incoherent 
events,  a  chaos,  a  labyrinth  of  heterogeneous  things, 
a  confusion  without  rhyme  or  reason,  without  law  or 
order.  Our  answer  to  this  first  question  is,  that  the 
universe  has  a  definite  tendency,  and  morality  means 
agreement  with  this  tendency. 

2)  We  have  reasons  to  believe  that  on  other  plan- 


218  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

ets  and  in  other  solar  systems,  there  is  something  cor- 
responding to  human  life,  to  feeling,  and  to  intelligence. 
For  philosophical  considerations  teach  us,  and  science 
corroborates  it,  that  the  evolution  of  the  human  race, 
the  feeling  of  animal  life,  and  the  intelligence  of  ra- 
tional beings  have  developed  with  necessity  upon 
earth  in  rigid  accordance  with  natural  laws.  Is  there 
any  doubt  that  the  same  conditions  in  other  parts  of 
the  universe  will  produce  the  same  results,  and  sim- 
ilar conditions  similar  results  ?  When  we  analyze  the 
stars  with  the  assistance  of  the  spectroscope  we  find 
there  the  same  material  elements  as  upon  the  earth. 
Can  there  be  any  question  as  to  our  finding  every- 
where the  same  laws  and  the  same  tendency  of  evolu- 
tion ?  Other  races  on  other  planets  may  have  very 
different  constitutions;  winged  animals  of  the  air  or 
swimming  animals  of  the  sea,  bipeds  or  quadrupeds, 
mammals  or  insects,  carnivorous  or  herbivorous,  or 
any  other  kind  of  creatures  might  develop  into  think- 
ing beings ;  yet  it  is  certain  that  among  all  rational 
creatures,  there  would  be  at  least  in  all  fundamental 
features  the  same  logic,  the  same  arithmetic,  the  same 
mathematics,  and  above  all  the  same  logic  of  action, 
viz.,  the  same  ethics. 

3)  There  are  grounds  for  hope  that  pain  will  be 
diminished  in  life  and  that  the  nobler  and  more  re- 
fined pleasures  will  be  constantly  increased.  But  con- 
sidering that  pain  is  either  the  result  of  unsatisfied 
wants  or  due  to  some  other  disturbance  in  life,  we 
must  bear  in  mind  that  the  creation  of  new  wants 
which  arises  through  progress,  will  produce  new  pains 
to  the  same  degree  as  it  will  produce  more  refined  and 
nobler  pleasures. 

Are   we  not   sometimes  too  weak-hearted  with  re- 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  219 

gard  to  our  pains?  Are  not  the  causes  of  our  woes 
mostly  of  a  trivial  nature  ?  Look  at  them  from  a  higher 
standpoint  and  they  appear  like  the  baby's  tears  over 
a  broken  doll.  And  if  they  are  not  trivial,  if  they  are 
not  the  woes  of  the  individual,  but  of  the  aspiring 
race,  are  they  not  far  from  being  merely  lamentable  ? 
Are  they  not  in  such  a  case  sublime  ?  Are  they  not 
transfigured  by  their  sacred  purpose,  and  must  they 
not  appear  as  grand  as  are  the  struggles,  the  anxieties, 
and  the  sufferings  of  a  hero  in  a  tragedy? 

Let  us  consider  pleasure  and  pain  not  from  the 
standpoint  of  sentimentality  but  from  the  higher  stand- 
point of  ethics,  where  the  individual  as  such  disap- 
pears, where  the  individual's  worth  is  measured  ac- 
cording to  his  breadth  of  mind,  and  where  life  is  valued 
not  according  to  the  pleasures  it  affords,  but  according 
as  it  contains  more  or  less  of  those  treasures  that 
"neither  moth  nor  rust  doth  corrupt." 

As  to  the  fourth  and  fifth  question,  we  should  say : 

This  planet  of  ours  together  with  our  solar  system 
may,  and  we  have  indeed  reasons  to  believe  that  it 
will,  break  to  pieces.  Yet  the  conditions  which  pro- 
duced not  only  our  solar  system,  but  also  mankind 
and  human  civilization,  will  not  cease  to  exist.  They 
will  continue  to  exist  and  will  produce,  in  fact  they 
are  constantly  producing,  new  worlds  out  of  the 
wrecks  of  the  old  broken  ones.  If  a  man  dies,  we  la- 
ment the  loss  ;  we  weep  for  the  friend,  the  brother  or 
the  father.  But  the  loss  is  not  so  much  his  ;  it  is  ours. 
If  our  world  breaks  to  pieces  it  will  be  a  loss — a  la- 
mentable loss.  But  will  it  be  a  loss  to  mankind  ?  It 
will  be  a  loss  in  the  universe,  which,  however,  as  we 
can  fairly  suppose,  will  be  made  up  by  other  gains. 

The  universe   is   not  "an  infinite  machine,  which 


22o  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

mercilessly  crushes  between  its  cogs  not  only  the  in- 
dividual but  eventually  the  race."  The  universe  is 
infinite  and  inexhaustible  life.  Whatever  life  of  or- 
ganized beings,  of  individuals,  of  entire  races  and  of 
entire  solar  systems  may  disappear  in  one  part,  there 
is  a  probability,  practically  amounting  to  certainty, 
that  in  other  parts  new  life  will  originate  to  compen- 
sate for  it. 

Life  on  its  highest  stage  means  action  and  action 
means  performance  of  duty.  Man  is  an  ethical  animal, 
which  means  that  he  has  come  to  understand  certain 
important  features  of  the  tendency  prevailing  in  the 
universe.  It  is  the  performance  of  duty  in  past  genera- 
tions which  has  raised  mankind  to  its  present  emi- 
nence. 

The  world  is  throughout  a  field  of  ethical  aspira- 
tions. If  our  life  ceases,  if  our  planet  breaks  to  pieces, 
the  immutable  laws  of  nature  will  remain  the  same. 
Humanity  may  be  wiped. out  of  existence,  but  those 
realities  which  created  humanity  and  in  consonance 
with  which  man's  ethical  ideals  have  been  shaped  will 
remain.  We  read  in  the  New  Testament  that  Heaven 
and  earth  may  pass  away,  but  the  word  of  God  abideth 
forever.  The  Religion  of  Science  recognizes  the  truth 
of  this  biblical  verse,  although  it  does  not  accept  it  in 
the  narrow  interpretation  of  theistic  theology. 


THE  BIBLE  AND  FREE  THOUGHT. 


AT  present  there  are  two  distinct  views  concerning 
the  Bible,  viz.,  that  of  the  so-called  orthodox,  and  that 
of  the  irreligious  radical.  Those  advocating  the  former 
view  believe  that  the  Bible  was  revealed  by  divine  in- 
spiration and  communicated  word  for  word.  They 
declare  that  it  contains  nothing  but  truth, — absolute 
truth.  The  advocates  of  the  latter  view  consider  it  a 
book  full  of  paradoxes  and  contradictions.  They  ridi- 
cule it  as  the  non  plus  ultra  of  superstition  and  the 
very  basis  of  bigotry. 

Both  parties  are  in  error.  The  Bible  although  not 
dictated  by  the  Holy  Ghost  verbatim,  is  from  a  human 
and  secular  standpoint  the  grandest  and  sublimest 
book  we  have.  Compare  it  with  the  sacred  books  of 
other  nations,  with  those  books  which  are  the  old 
store-houses  of  ethical,  religious  and  mythological 
ideas.  Compare  it  with  the  Koran,  with  Hesiod's 
Cosmogony,  or  the  Voluspa  of  the  Northern  Edda,  or 
the  Zend-Avesta,  or  even  the  Vedas  and  the  Buddha 
Gospels.  What  impartial  judge  would  not  give  pre- 
ference to  the  Bible  ? 

Goethe  found  in  the  Bible  an  invaluable  store  and 
an  inexhaustible  mine  of  poetry  ;  he  rankad  it  far 
above  Homer.  Read  the  passage  in  Humboldt's  Kos- 


222  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

mos,  where  he  expresses  his  admiration  for  the  He- 
brew literature  and  more  especially  the  poetry  of  the 
psalms ! 

The  sacred  books  of  all  nations,  and  particularly 
the  Bible  form  the  basis  of  our  modern  ethics.  That 
the  Bible  should  bear  traces  of  the  times  in  which  it 
was  written,  is  quite  natural.  But  it  also  points  far 
beyond  its  time,  in  that  it  contains  germs  which  have 
developed  into  a  higher  ethical  culture.  It  is  this  that 
gives  to  the  Bible  its  value. 

The  Bible,  when  regarded  from  the  standpoint  of 
narrow  bigotry,  becomes  a  tissue  of  almost  unexplain- 
able  absurdities.  How  many  things,  which  can  be  ex- 
plained by  the  ideas  and  manners  prevalent  in  those 
times,  must  now  appear  incongruous.  No  matter  how 
much  the  irreligious  and  flippant  scoffer  may  differ 
from  the  bigot  in  his  ultimate  opinion  concerning  the 
Bible,  his  view  nevertheless  coincides  with  the  latter's 
in  that  they  both  guage  the  Bible  according  to  the 
same  standard.  Both  demand  proofs  of  absolute  truth  ; 
and  because  the  infidel  does  not  find  them  he  depre- 
cates it  and  ridicules  the  pretensions  of  believers. 
Both  the  bigot  and  the  scoffer  lack  scientific  insight. 

If  we  consider  the  Bible  from  the  standpoint  of  the 
severest  and  most  radical  criticism,  we  shall  only  learn 
to  prize  it  all  the  more,  on  account  of  its  poetical 
treasures  and  on  account  of  the  valuable  evidence  it 
affords  of  the  growth  of  religious,  ethical  and  philo- 
sophical ideas. 

From  this  standpoint  of  careful  and  earnest  scien- 
tific investigation  the  Bible  will  be  read  with  the  great- 
est pleasure  and  edification. 

We  prize  our  old  legends  of  fairies  and  witches, 
heroes  and  ogres,  of  the  shepherd  boy  who  slays  the 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  223 

giant  and  becomes  a  king,  but  we  are  blind  to  the 
beauty  of  the  story  of  David  and  Goliath.  And  why 
are  we  unable  to  appreciate  its  charm  ?  Is  it  not  be- 
cause, when  we  first  read  it  with  our  teacher,  the  hu- 
man features  of  the  story  were  ignored?  They  were 
purposely  thrown  aside  and  something  superhuman, 
something  awe-inspiring  was  wrongly  substituted  ;  and 
this  made  the  whole  tale  unintelligible  to  the  child. 
The  Bible  if  not  distorted  by  narrow-minded  bigotry 
is  a  rich  mine  for  every  one.  The  child's  love  for 
stories  is  satisfied,  the  historian  finds  records  which 
are  of  the  greatest  importance  for  our  knowledge  of 
the  patriarchal  era  of  mankind,  its  customs  and  habits, 
its  beliefs  and  superstitions,  its  laws  and  its  culture. 
And  above  all,  those  who  want  to  found  their  actions 
upon  a  firm  basis  of  rules  and  principles,  who  aspire 
toward  religious  or  ethical  ideals,  will  find  the  most 
fertile  fields  in  the  books  of  the  Bible,  if  they  search 
in  the  right  spirit,  prejuduced  neither  by  credulous 
acceptance  nor  flippant  rejection  of  all  their  contents. 

The  Old  Testament  is  one  of  the  strongest  sup- 
ports of  free  thought,  and  the  words  of  Christ  are  so 
full  of  truth  and  righteousness  that  they  have  rung 
through  almost  nineteen  centuries  and  have  not  as  yet 
lost  their  power.  They  have  been  wrongly  interpreted, 
they  have  been  scoffed  at  and  ridiculed,  they  have 
been  criticised  and  condemned,  but  they  survived 
nevertheless,  and  will  live  on  in  the  ethical  develop- 
ment of  humanity.  The  radical  freethought  of  the 
Bible  is  perhaps  not  understood  by  those  who  say 
"  Lord,  Lord,"  who  read  and  worship  the  letter  and 
lose  sight  of  the  spirit. 

Mr.  Salter,  the  well  known  lecturer  of  the  Society 
for  Ethical  Culture  in  Chicago,  speaks  in  The  Chris- 


224  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

tian  Register  (Jan.  19,  1888)  of  the  significance  of  Jesus 
for  our  time.  He  says  :  "  The  charm  about  the  name 
of  Jesus  is  that  he  dared  believe  in  something  different 
from  what  he  saw  about  him.  He  loved  justice  in  his 
soul,  but  with  his  eyes  he  saw  injustice." 

Christ's  word,  "Ye  resist  not  evil,"  is  a  lesson  to 
the  human  race  which  people  even  to-day  have  not  yet 
understood.  We  are  still  prone  to  obey  the  old  rule  : 
"An  eye  for  an  eye  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth."  If  one 
does  injustice  to  another,  this  other  thinks  the  best 
remedy  is  for  him  in  his  turn  to  do  another  injustice. 
It  is  almost  an  unwritten  law  of  our  social  code  "to 
render  evil  for  evil  and  railing  for  railing."  If  the 
monopolist  oppresses  the  workingmen,  the  trades- 
unions  expect  to  help  themselves  by  committing  a 
similar  injustice.  We  must  be  educated  to  "a  per- 
ception," as  Wheelbarrow  says,  "strong  enough  to 
see  that  freedom  to  oppress  others  is  not  freedom."  It 
will  perhaps  take  some  centuries  for  society  to  learn 
that  the  wrong-doer  injures  others  and  himself  still 
more.  He  who  seeks  revenge  by  retaliating  does  not 
right  the  wrong  but  aggravates  it.  He  intends  to  re- 
store justice  and  increases  injustice. 

There  are  but  few  who  can  distinguish  between  an 
honest  fight  with  their  adversary  and  a  hateful  perse- 
cution of  their  enemy.  The  former  is  our  duty,  the 
latter  is  deplorable,  and  if  done  in  a  cowardly  manner 
with  the  help  of  lies  and  slander,  it  is  even  despicable. 
So  long  as  we  stick  to  the  old  rule  of  rendering  evil  for 
evil,  every  evit  will  beget  a  new  evil.  But  if  we  let  it 
alone,  if  we  fight  our  struggles  honestly  without  bear- 
ing any  hatred  toward  our  adversary,  evil  will  be  ex- 
terminated. 

The  real  Christian  is  not  he  who  believes  the  mar- 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  225 

vellous  stories  told  in  the  Bible,  but  he  who  acts  in 
accordance  with  the  teachings  of  Christ,  which  finally 
must  be  recognised  as  true  in  their  spirit  and  humane 
in  their  nature.  They  are  right  and  correct  and  will 
outlast  the  worldly  wisdom  of  retaliation.  They  will 
come  to  be  recognised  more  and  more,  not  only  as 
noble  and  sublime  from  the  ideal  point  of  view,  but 
also  from  the  lower  standpoint  of  practical  prudence. 

We  would  therefore  call  the  attention  of  the  free- 
thinker and  of  the  bigot  to  the  Bible.  The  one  will 
find  in  store  for  him  treasures  of  most  radical  thought, 
love  of  justice  and  truth,  which  he  did  not  expect,  and 
the  other  will  learn  that  Christ  was  different  from  what 
he  is  generally  represented  in  the  orthodox  pulpits. 
Our  modern  ethical  civilisation  is  evolved  from  the 
biblical  teachings  and  we  have  not  as  yet  been  able 
fully  to  comprehend  all  the  ideas  embodied  in  them, 
nor  to  realise  them  in  actual  life.  Mr.  Salter  in  the 
above  quoted  article  says  :  "  Religion  must  inspire  to 
personal  and  social  reform.  That  is  the  only  thing 
that  is  religion  in  the  modern  world.  All  else  is  the 
tradition  of  an  earlier  time,  when  justice  and  judgment 
were  committed  to  other  hands  than  man's."  .... 
"We  cannot  pray  for  justice  any  longer.  We  have 
to  do  it.  We  cannot  say,  Thy  kingdom  come.  We 
have  to  obey  the  God  who  commands  us  to  create  it." 

If  any  one  who  claims  to  be  a  teacher  of  free  thought 
and  ethical  progress,  disdains  the  prophets  in  the  Old 
Testament,  or  the  Doctrines  of  Christ  in  the  New 
Testament,  if  he  scoffs  at  his  followers,  the  Apostles, 
Paul,  Augustin  or  Luther,  because  they  were  in  many 
respects  not  so  far  advanced  as  we  are  now,  he  seems 
to  me  like  an  engineer  who  foolishly  prattles  about 
the  stupidity  of  Watt  and  Stephenson  or  other  great 


226  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

inventors  because  their  engines  were  poor  in  com 
parison  to  the  engines  of  to-day.  An  engineer  of  such 
stamp  will  not  become  an  inventor.  Due  reverence 
for  and  appreciation  of  the  merits  of  the  past  is  the 
only  foundation  on  which  a  truly  grand  future  can  be 
built. 

Radicalism  is  needed  in  our* churches  and  our  clerg> 
should  know  that  free  thought — in  its  best  sense — can 
never  destroy  religion,  but  on  the  other  hand  religion 
is  wanted  among  our  freethinkers.  They  should  know 
that  true  religion  is  the  most  radical  power  of  a  con- 
sistent free  thought  which  in  constant  opposition  to 
narrow-minded  bigotry  leads  humanity  onwards  in  the 
path  of  progress. 


FAITH  AND  DOUBT. 


THE  value  of  scepticism  was  the  subject  of  a  dis- 
cussion in  a  club  consisting  mainly  of  scientists,  law- 
yers, and  business  men.  And  it  was  a  strange  fact 
that  almost  all  the  speakers  glorified  scepticism  as  if 
it  had  been  the  cause  of  all  progress,  as  if  the  human 
mind  reached  the  climax  of  perfection  in  Doubt. 

This  attitude,  it  appears,  is  based  upon  an  errone- 
ous conception  of  the  function  of  doubt,  and  it  is  now 
so  prevalent  partly  because  the  terms  doubt  and  scep- 
ticism are  often  identified  with  any  denial  of  certain 
religious  beliefs,  and  partly  because  agnosticism, 
which  despairs  of  a  definite  solution  of  the  fundamen- 
tal problems  of  philosophy,  is  at  present  the  most 
prevalent  and  fashionable  world-conception. 

In  the  addresses  made,  it  was  maintained  that  all 
success  in  life  was  due  to  doubt.  An  able  business 
man  had  doubted  the  propriety  of  the  prevalent  meth- 
ods of  distribution  in  the  meat-market ;  and  Charles 
Darwin  had  doubted  the  truth  of  the  biblical  account 
of  creation,  andlo  !  what  were  the  results?  The  former 
created  an  establishment  which  made  meat  cheaper  all 
over  the  world,  and  the  latter  wrote  "The  Origin  of 
the  Species"  and  "The  Descent  of  Man."  One  of 
the  speakers  defined  doubt  as  the  faith  of  a  man  in 
himself  and  in  his  ideals,  contrasting  it  with  a  blind 


228  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

faith  in  dogmas.  But  it  strikes  us  that  this  view  of 
doubt  and  scepticism  is,  to  say  the  least,  misleading. 
Doubt,  real  doubt,  is  unable  to  produce  any  results. 
The  man  who  has  a  faith  acts  according  to  the  faith 
that  is  in  him.  But  the  man  who  doubts  is  like  Bur- 
idan's  donkey  who  hungers  between  two  bundles  of 
hay  so  long  as  he  remains  in  the  agnostic  state  of  not 
knowing  which  bundle  should  be  eaten  first. 

It  was  maintained,  likewise,  that  the  times  of  scep- 
ticism had  been  the  times  of  progress.  This  is  true 
only  if  scepticism  be  identified  with  active  thought. 
Goethe  said,  that  the  epochs  of  strong  faith  alone  had 
been  the  periods  of  a  strong  activity,  of  progress,  of 
creative  thought,  fertile  with  ideas  and  deeds.  It  is 
not  true  that  Mr.  Armour's  doubt  produced  the  new 
methods  of  the  distribution  of  meat,  it  was  his  faith  in 
the  new  methods  and  not  his  doubts  as  to  the  old 
methods  that  produced  progress.  The  negative  ele- 
ment of  doubt,  important  though  it  may  be  as  a  tran- 
sient phase  in  the  growth  of  our  ideas,  is  not  so  im- 
portant as  the  positive  element  of  a  new  faith  for  the 
creation  of  great  things.  It  is  most  probable  that  the 
new  faith  in  the  truth  of  the  evolution  theory  devel- 
oped in  Darwin's  mind  long  before  his  old  faith  had 
broken  down,  and  it  is  not  impossible  that  for  a  long 
time  he  did  not  even  realise  the  full  extent  of  the  con- 
flict between  the  old  and  the  new  faith.  Success  after 
all  is  always  due  to  faith  ;  and  doubt  is  nothing  but  a 
state  of  suspense  in  which  a  new  faith  is  struggling 
with  the  old  faith,  and  only  lasts  so  long  as  both  faiths 
are  sufficiently  equal  in  strength  to  paralyse  each 
other. 

The  aim  of  doubt  is  always  its  annihilation.  Prob- 
lems tend  to  be  solved  and  the  end  of  doubt  should 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  229 

be  their  settlement.  But  we  were  told  by  an  encomiast 
of  scepticism,  that  "theories  and  dogmas  vanish  in  a 
clear  and  keen  cut  mind  before  doubt,  even  as  mists 
before  the  morning  sun."  However  if  the  old  theories 
are  not  replaced  by  new  and  better  theories, — better 
because  they  are  truer, — it  would  seem  as  if  we  should 
rather  compare  the  state  of  doubt  to  the  mist.  For  if 
we  are  surrounded  with  a  dense  fog  we  cannot  see, 
and  only  so  long  as  we  are  in  doubt  do  we  answer 
"Alas  !  I  know  not." 

It  is  strange  that  the  doubt  of  this  same  eulogist 
of  scepticism  is  not  at  all  a  state  of  not  knowing.  When 
he  attempted  to  explain  the  actual  advantages  of 
doubt  he  became  inconsistent  with  himself.  As  soon  as 
he  tried  to  describe  his  doubter's  "hope  eternal"  it  was 
noticeable  that  doubt  became  simply  a  wrong  name  for 
the  opposite  of  doubt.  What  he  calls  doubt  is  actually 
a  new  faith.  His  "doubter  mourns  not,  not  as  one 
without  hope,"  for  he  positively  knows  that  "we  live 
and  die  by  laws  as  inevitable,  all  working  toward  a 
unity  of  completion"  and  "Nature  makes  no  blanks," 
and  death  has  also  its  place  in  nature.  "It  is  death 
that  weaves  a  crown  for  birth  and  life." 

A  new  faith  is  dawning  on  the  intellectual  horizon 
of  mankind  ;  and  whether  the  new  faith  should  be 
considered  as  preferable  to  the  old  faith  has,  to  the 
large  masses  of  our  people,  not  as  yet  been  decided. 
Hence  the  prevalence  of  doubt.  This  prevalent  state 
of  doubt  is  unquestionably  the  harbinger  of  better 
days,  it  is  a  sign  of  progress,  it  promises  life,  and 
growth,  and  evolution.  But  let  us  not  make  doubt 
the  aim  and  end  of  thought.  Our  ideal  is  not  the  de- 
spair of  an  eternal  scepticism,  but  the  great  hope  of  a 
new,  of  a  better  and  a  truer  faith. 


THE  HEROES  OF  FREE  THOUGHT. 


WHO  are  the  heroes  of  free  thought?  Those  who 
smile  at  religious  sentiment  and  think  that  "  religion  is 
good  for  the  masses  while  the  educated  naturally  stand 
above  any  religious  emotion" — or  those  who  struggle 
and  yearn  for  truth,  who  suffer  for  it  and  advance 
slowly,  but  earnestly,  on  the  path  of  human  progress? 
The  former  may  be  more  advanced  in  refinement, 
knowledge  and  worldly  wisdom,  but  the  latter  only  are 
the  heroes  of  free  thought.  Such  men  were  Giordano 
Bruno,  Spinoza,  Luther,  Lessing,  Hume,  Kant  and 
others,  and  it  is  noteworthy  that  almost  all  of  them 
were  not  only  from  childhood  earnestly  pious,  but  that 
they  also  came  from  families  where  religion  was  more 
than  the  mere  observance  of  ceremonial  rites. 

Let  us  confine  ourselves  to  the  best  known  of  such 
characters.  David  Hume  was  a  Scotchman,  whose  an- 
cestors were,  as  are  all  the  old  Scotch  people,  very  de- 
voted Puritans.  Kant,  also,  was  of  such  Puritan  Scotch 
origin,  and  we  know  that  his  mother  was  a  devout 
Christian. 

Spinoza  was  a  Jew.  His  parents  left  their  home  in 
Spain  for  Holland,  in  order  to  remain  faithful  to  the  re- 
ligion of  their  ancestors.  They  might  have  comfortably 
remained  in  Spain  if  they  had  abjured  their  belief  and 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  231 

turned  Christians.  The  religious  spirit  of  Spinoza's 
writings  is  fully  appreciated  even  by  his  adversaries, 
and  he  showed  this  religious  spirit  in  practical  life  when, 
for  the  sake  of  truth,  he  scorned  the  terrible  curse  of 
the  synagogue,  in  the  teachings  of  which  he  had  been 
educated. 

Luther's  faith  and  love  of  truth  is  an  historic  fact. 
He  was  a  hero  of  free  thought,  which  his  contemporary, 
the  great  Pope  Leo  X.,  was  not.  Pope  Leo  was  a 
free-thinker  of  the  modern  stamp.  Luther  was  a  firm 
believer,  Leo  was  an  unbeliever.  Luther  had  faith  in 
God  like  a  child.  Pope  Leo  was  unhampered  by  any 
credo  and  at  the  same  time  was  a  protector  of  art  and 
a  promoter  of  humanitarianism.  He  did  much  for  the 
Renaissance  in  resuscitating  Greek  letters  and  Greek 
culture.  He  built  the  glorious  Cathedral  of  Saint  Pe- 
ter's at  Rome  and  to  show  his  Helenic  spirit  he  placed 
upon  the  cross  formed  by  the  four  great  aisles  of  the 
largest  church  on  earth  a  cupola  resembling  the  pagan 
Pantheon.  In  his  heart  Greek  paganism  triumphed 
over  Christianity. 

Compare  this  great  Maecenas,  the  free-thinker,  the 
humanitarian,  the  erudite  man,  with  the  poor,  almost 
illiterate  Augustine  monk.  Would  you  then  have  rec- 
ognised the  power  of  free  thought  in  the  latter  and  the 
lack  of  it  in  the  former?  What  gave  to  the  simple- 
hearted  believer  the  strength  to  lead  humanity  one 
great  step  onward,  so  as  to  gain  for  every  man  the 
freedom  of  his  conscience — the  Christian's  liberty,  as 
Luther  called  it?  It  was  not  that  he  believed  less  of 
the  dogmatic  Christianity,  but  that  his  religious  faith 
was  stronger.  Pope  Leo  was  indifferent  to  religion  ; 
he  was  a  free-thinker,  and,  upon  receiving  the  Peter's 
pence,  spoke  of  "the  profitable  fable  of  Christ."  He 


232  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

appreciated  and  understood  Luther's  opposition  so 
little  that  he  thought  his  preaching  against  Tetzel's 
sale  of  indulgences  was  mere  jealousy  of  the  Augus- 
tine monk's  against  the  Dominican  Order,  to  whom 
the  sale  was  entrusted.  Leo  could  not  imagine  that 
any  one  would  endanger  his  life  for  the  sake  of  con- 
viction. 

Luther  very  probably  would  have  been  shocked 
had  he  foreseen  that  humanity  would  advance  on  the 
path  of  religious  free  thought.  He  did  not  see  so  far. 
But  it  was  better  for  him  and  better  for  the  cause 
which  he  boldly  defended.  We,  however,  should  learn 
from  the  juxtaposition  of  those  two  men,  Leo  X.  in  all 
his  papal  splendor  and  the  poor  monk  Martin  in  his 
simple  faith,  that  the  heroism  of  free  thought  is  no 
mere  indifferent  negation  of  religious  dogmatism,  but 
strong  faith — religious  faith — and  confidence  in  truth. 
Let  us  boldly  and  consistently  think  the  truth,  let  us 
speak  the  truth  modestly  but  firmly,  that  is  the  spirit 
by  which  the  heroes  of  free  thought  became  a  power 
and  rose  above  their  time  so  as  to  lead  humanity  to 
higher  and  nobler  aims. 


THE  HUNGER  AFTER  RIGHTEOUSNESS. 


THERE  is  a  most  dangerous  superstition  prevailing 
among  great  masses  of  people  that  morality  is  a  good 
thing  as  an  ideal,  but  a  bad  thing  for  the  purposes  of 
practical  life.  A  business  man  who  wants  to  succeed, 
it  is  imagined,  can  succeed  by  immoral  means  only. 
This  is  a  superstition,  for  it  is  not  true ;  and  it  is 
a  dangerous  superstition,  for  it  leads  those  who 
believe  in  it  and  act  accordingly,  into  ruin.  Morality, 
if  it  be  true  morality,  will  lead  to  life,  it  will  preserve, 
it  will  produce  prosperity,  and  afford  a  noble  satis- 
faction never  mingled  with  regret. 

The  deep-rooted  error  that  immorality  alone  can 
insure  success,  seems  to  have  originated  through  a 
strange  combination  of  misconceptions,  favored  by 
special  conditions  and  strengthened  by  exceptional 
instances  of  successful  impostors.  Our  very  language 
betrays  us  into  grievous  blunders.  We  speak  of  a 
"smart  "  business  man  and  understand  by  "smart" 
now  the  prudent,  industrious,  judicious  merchant, 
and  now  the  sagacious,  deceitful  trickster.  Prudence 
is  indispensable  to  insure  success,  but  trickery  is  not. 
Trickery  will  go  but  a  little  way  and,  like  the  crooked 
boomerang,  it  will  unexpectedly  fly  back  upon  its 
originator. 

Closely  connected  with  this  vagueness  of  speech  is 
the  vagueness  of  our  views  of  morality.  Morality  is 


234  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

too  often  tacitly  identified  with  so-called  goodnatured- 
ness  and  with  inability.  It  is  proverbial  to  speak 
of  incompetent  men  who  are  free  from  other  gross 
faults  as  "good  people,  but  bad  musicians";  mean- 
ing thereby  that  they  are  morally  blameless,  yet  still 
disqualified  for  the  business  or  profession  in  which 
they  are  engaged.  Such  men  are  popularly  called 
'good,'  i.  e.,  morally  good;  but  they  are  not  good. 
They  lack  that  moral  nerve  that  enables  us  to  adapt 
ourselves  to  our  work  ;  they  lack  that  moral  energy 
of  self-discipline  by  which  alone  we  can  train  and 
educate  ourselves  to  become  competent  in  our  pro- 
fession. 

The  negative  morality  of  doing  no  harm  to  any- 
body is  not  as  yet  morality;  it  is,  at  best,  sentimental- 
ity. True  morality  has  positive  ideals,  and  foremost 
among  our  moral  ideals  must  be  the  aspiration  of 
every  individual  to  become  a  useful  member  of  so- 
ciety, by  contributing  something  to  its  weal  and  wel- 
fare. To  do  some  work  which  gives  us  pleasure, 
dilettanteism  in  art  or  science,  in  business  or  agri- 
culture, etc.,  is  not  as  yet  sufficient;  our  work  must  be 
a  service  to  society,  it  must  stand  in  demand,  other- 
wise we  canqot  and  ought  not  expect  any  return  for  it. 

A  certain  indifference  with  regard  to  honesty  easily 
arises  from  an  over-prosperous  condition  of  society. 
If  men  earn  money  without  earnest  effort ;  if  they 
live  in  plenty,  and  find  the  resources  of  all  depart- 
ments of  industry  practically  unlimited,  they  become 
indulgent  towards  the  depredator  who  takes  more  than 
his  due,  and  smile  at  the  thief  who  nimbly  skips  away 
with  his  spoil.  He  who  plunders  the  public  treasury 
is  not  taken  to  account,  because  the  loss  is  not  so  se- 
riously felt.  A  country  in  an  unusual  state  of  pros- 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  235 

parity  is  not  so  much  in  need  of  honesty  as  a  poor 
nation,  and  accordingly  the  moral  instinct,  the  moral 
sense  of  that  country  remains  comparatively  unde- 
veloped. If  man  did  not  stand  in  need  of  intelligence, 
if  he  could  live  without  thought,  he  certainly  would 
never  have  developed  brains,  and  humanity  would 
still  lead  an  unrational  existence.  The  same  is  true  of 
morality  :  it  is  developed  among  mankind  because  and 
to  the  extent  in  which  man  wants  it.  And  we  do  want 
it  indeed  ;  we  are  most  intensely  in  need  of  it,  for  so- 
society  could  not  exist  without  it. 

A  prosperous  nation,  I  say,  is  not  so  much  in  need 
of  morality  as  a  poor  nation,  where  the  struggle  for 
existence  is  hard  and  competition  is  fierce.  Yet 
the  people  that  are  not  at  present  in  such  great  need 
of  morality  will  soon  come  to  that  need.  History 
teaches  that  the  moral,  the  industrious,  the  patient 
poor  people  will  in  time  most  successfully  compete 
with  the  rich  and  the  opulent.  As  soon  as  opulency 
has  reached  that  degree  in  which  the  need  of  morality 
is  no  longer  felt,  the  decline  of  a  nation  sets  in.  A 
crisis  in  her  social  life  is  impending.  The  down- 
trodden will  complain  of  their  oppressors  ;  they  will 
cry  out  for  justice;  and  if  that  justice  be  not  freely 
given,  the  whole  nation  will  suffer  for  it,  and  the  coun- 
try once  so  prosperous  will  lie  deserted  and  in  ruins. 
Let  the  monuments  of  the  great  nations  that  pros- 
pered before  us  and  passed  away  be  a  mene  tekel  for 
us  to-day. 

When  the  nation  of  Israel  was  in  a  social  condition 
similar  to  that  which,  to  a  great  extent,  prevails  among 
us  now,  the  prophet  Amos  arose  and  lamented  the 
moral  depravity  of  his  people.  He  said  : 


236  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

Thus  saith  the  Lord  :  For  three  transgressions  of  Israel,  and 
for  four,  will  I  not  turn  away  their  punishment.  For  they  sell  the 
righteous  for  silver,  and  the  needy  for  a  pair  of  shoes.  And  per- 
vert the  cause  of  the  afflicted.  They  lay  themselves  down  upon 
pledged  garments  near  every  altar  ;  and  drink  wine  procured  by 
fines,  in  the  house  of  their  gods. 

Amos  foresaw  that  such  a  state  of  society  could  not 
remain  as  it  was.  He  said  : 

And  I  will  turn  your  feasts  into  mourning  and  all  your  songs 
into  lamentation  ;  and  I  will  bring  up  sackcloth  upon  all  loins  and 
baldness  upon  every  head  ;  and  I  will  make  it  as  the  mourning  of 
an  only  son,  and  the  end  thereof  as  a  bitter  day. 

The  need  of  morality,  its  indispensableness  for  the 
welfare  of  the  nation  as  well  as  of  every  individual, 
must  at  last  be  felt,  and  under  the  impression  of  this 
truth  the  prophet  continues  : 

Behold  the  days  come,  sayeth  the  Lord  Gcd,  that  I  will  send 
a  famine  in  the  land,  not  a  famine  of  bread,  nor  a  thirst  for  water, 
but  of  hearing  the  words  of  the  Lord. 

Amos's  prophecy  is  as  true  to-day — and  we  repeat 
it  in  this  conviction — as  it  was  about  two  and  a  half 
millenniums  ago.  There  will  come  upon  us  disorder 
and  misery,  our  feasts  will  be  turned  into  mourning 
unless  we  are  made  aware  of  the  want  of  honesty,  of 
justice,  of  morality.  The  expression  "the  words  of 
the  Lord  "  in  the  prophecy  does  not  signify  belief  in 
a  supernatural  revelation  ;  and  if  it  did,  we  do  not  quote 
it  in  that  sense.  "The  words  of  the  Lord,"  as  we  in- 
terpret the  term  in  accordance  with  its  context,  mean 
the  moral  commands  that  will  forever  remain  the  sub- 
stance of  religious  aspirations.  There  will  arise,  as 
Christ  said,  almost  two  thousand  years  ago,  "a  hunger 
and  thirst  after  righteousness. "  Those  who  feel  that 
hunger  will  partake  of  the  blessing  that  in  the  nature 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  237 

of  things  is  intimately  connected  with  it,  that  will  fol- 
low upon  it,  as  the  effect  follows  upon  its  cause. 
Says  Amos : 

For,  lo,  I  will  command,  and  I  will  sift  the  house  of  Israel 
among  the  nations  ;  like  as  corn  is  sifted  in  a  sieve,  yet  shall  not 
the  least  grain  fall  upon  the  earth. 

The  prophecy  of  Amos  is  constantly  being  fulfilled 
in  the  process  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest.  Among 
all  the  nations  those  alone  will  survive  and  fill  the  earth 
that  are  pervaded  with  the  moral  spirit.  A  society 
based  upon  justice  will  be  stronger  than  a  society  in 
which  an  aristocracy  oppresses  the  other  classes  of 
the  people.  A  nation  in  which  the  rich  devise  laws 
to  protect  themselves  against  free  competition  and  in 
which  the  poor  are  prevented  from  bettering  their 
condition,  carries  a  germ  of  weakness  within  itself 
and  will  in  the  end  have  to  pay  for  its  errors  dearly. 
The  strong  will  conquer  and  the  weak  will  go  to  the 
wall — that  is  the  natural  law  of  evolution.  But  bear 
in  mind  that  there  is  no  strength  unless  it  be  sup- 
ported by  morality.  The  social  law  is  a  power— a 
power  that  destroys  those  who  do  not  conform  to  it. 
Says  the  prophet  : 

Yet  destroyed  I  the  Amorite  whose  height  was  like  the  height 
of  the  cedars,  and  he  was  strong  as  the  oaks.  Yet  I  destroyed  his 
fruit  from  above  and  his  roots  from  beneath. 

Rocks  are  demolished  by  silently- working  atmos- 
pheric influences.  And  the  strongest  nations  perish 
as  soon  as  they  deviate  from  the  path  of  righteousness 
and  the  spirit  of  progressive  morality.  A  constant 
selection  takes  place  in  the  struggle  for  existence,  and 
humanity  is  sifted  like  as  corn  is  sifted  in  a  sieve. 


238  HOMILII-.S  OF  SCIENCE. 

Let  us  learn  the  truth  and  act  accordingly,  and  we 
shall  live.  Let  us  not  waver  in  the  path  of  righteous- 
ness, but  do  faithfully  some  useful  work  in  the  service 
of  humanity,  lest  we  become  like  the  chaff  which  the 
wind  driveth  away. 


ETHICS  AND  THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  LIFE. 


THIS  world  of  ours  is  a  world  of  strife.  Wherever 
we  turn  our  eyes,  there  is  war  and  competition  and 
struggle.  Battles  are  fought  not  only  in  human  so- 
ciety, but  in  animal  society  also  ;  not  only  in  the  ani- 
mal kingdom,  but  in  the  plant  kingdom  ;  not  only  in 
the  empire  of  organized  life,  but  in  the  realm  of  inor- 
ganic life — between  the  ocean  and  the  land,  between 
water  and  air,  among  minerals,  and  among  the  dif- 
ferent formations  of  mineral  bodies,  among  planets 
and  planetary  systems,  among  suns  and  clusters  of 
suns.  Strife  is  identical  with  life,  and  struggle  is  the 
normal  state  of  actual  existence. 

We  can  easily  understand  that  a  superficial  ob- 
server, of  nature  will  feel  inclined  to  look  upon  life  as 
a  chaotic  jungle  without  rhyme  or  reason,  in  which 
the  wildest  hap-hazard  and  fortuitous  chance  rule  su- 
preme. A  closer  inspection,  however,  will  show  that 
there  is  after  all  order  in  the  general  turmoil  and  that  a 
wonderful  harmony  results  from  the  conflict  of  antag- 
onistic principles.  Nay,  we  shall  learn  that  all  order 
proceeds  from  the  antagonism  of  factors  that  work  in 
opposite  directions.  It  is  the  centrifugal  and  centrip- 
etal forces  that  shape  our  earth  and  keep  it  in  equilib- 
rium. It  is  attraction  and  repulsion  that  govern  the 
changes  of  chemistry.  Gravitation  throws  all  things 
into  one  centre,  and  radiation  disperses  the  store  of 


240  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

energy  collected  in  that  centre.  And  the  same  antith- 
esis of  hostile  principles  manifests  itself  in  love  and 
hate,  in  surfeit  and  hunger,  in  hope  and  fear. 

There  are  many  people  who  are  not  satisfied  with 
this  state  of  things.  They  dream  of  a  paradise  where 
there  is  no  strife,  no  war,  no  conflict ;  where  there  is 
eternal  peace,  unmixed  happiness,  joy  without  pain, 
and  life  without  struggle.  Whenever  you  try  to  de- 
pict in  your  imagination  such  a  condition  of  things, 
you  will  find  that  a  world  of  eternal  peace  is  an  im- 
possibility. The  world  in  which  life  does  not  signify 
a  constant  struggle  is  not  a  heaven  of  perfection  (as 
is  imagined),  but  the  cloudland  of  Utopia,  an  impos- 
sible state  of  fantastical  contradictions.  Should  you 
succeed  in  realizing  in  imagination  the  dream  of  your 
ideal  of  peace  without  inconsistency,  it  will  turn  out 
to  be  the  Nirvana  of  absolute  non-existence,  the 
silence  of  the  grave,  the  eternal  rest  of  death. 

Natural  science  teaches  that  hate  is  inversed  love 
and  repulsion  inversed  attraction.  Annihilate  one 
principle  and  the  other  vanishes.  Both  principles  are 
one  and  the  same  in  opposite  directions.  Thus  they 
come  into  conflict  and  their  conflict  is  the  process  of  life. 
Science  does  away  with  all  dualism.  The  dualistic  view 
appears  natural  to  a  crude  and  child-like  mind.  The 
Indian  might  say  that  heat  is  not  cold  and  cold  is 
not  heat,  yet  the  man  who  learns  to  express  tempera- 
ture by  the  exact  measurement  of  a  thermometer  must 
abandon  the  duality  of  the  two  principles.  Monism  is 
established  as  soon  as  science  commences  to  weigh 
and  to  measure.  The  divergence  in  the  oneness  of 
existence  creates  the  two  opposed  principles,  which 
are  the  factors  that  shape  the  world,  and  the  en- 
counter of  conflicting  factors  is  the  basis  from  which 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  241 

all  life  arises  with  its  pains  and  joys,  its  affliction  and 
happiness,  with  its  battles,  defeats,  and  victories. 

The  world  being  a  world  of  struggle,  life  teaches 
us  the  lesson  that  we  live  in  order  to  fight ;  we  must 
not  blink  at  this  truth,  for  we  cannot  shirk  the  com- 
bat. Ethics,  accordingly,  if  it  is  true  ethics,  and  prac- 
tical ethics,  must  above  all  be  an  ethics  of  strife.  It 
must  teach  us  how  to  struggle,  how  to  fight,  how  to 
aspire.  In  order  to  teach  us  the  how,  it  must  show  us 
the  goal  that  is  to  be  striven  for,  and  the  ideal  which 
we  should  pursue. 

The  progress  of  civilization  changes  the  weapons 
and  abolishes  barbaric  practices  ;  yet  it  will  never 
abolish  the  struggle  itself.  The  struggle  will  become 
more  humane,  it  will  be  fought  without  the  unneces- 
sary waste  which  accompanies  the  rude  warfare  of  the 
savage,  but  even  a  golden  era  of  peace  and  social 
order  will  continue  to  remain  an  unceasing  strife  and 
competition.  You  cannot  abolish  competition  even 
in  the  most  complete  co-operative  system.  There 
will  always  remain  the  struggle  for  occupying  this  or 
that  place,  and  the  competition  for  proving  to  be  the 
fittest  will  continue  so  long  as  the  world  lasts  ;  and 
it  is  the  plan  of  nature  to  let  the  fittest  survive. 

There  are  ethical  teachers  who  imagine  that  the 
purpose  of  ethics  is  the  suppression  of  all  struggle, 
who  depict  a  state  of  society  where  there  is  pure 
altruism  without  conflicting  interests,  a  state  of  mutual 
love,  a  heaven  of  undisturbed  happiness. 

The  ethics  of  pure  altruism  is  just  as  wrong  as  the 
ethics  of  pure  egotism.  For  it  is  our  duty  to  stand 
up  manfully  in  battle  and  to  wage  the  war  of  honest 
aspirations.  It  is  the  duty  of  a  manufacturer  to  com- 
pete with  his  competitors.  It  is  the  duty  of  the 


242  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

scholar,  the  philosopher,  and  the  artist  to  rival  the 
work  of  his  co-laborers  ;  and  the  progress  of  humanity 
is  the  result  of  this  general  warfare.  Organized  "life 
from  its  lowliest  beginnings  developed  higher  and 
higher  by  a  continued  struggle ;  and  it  is  not  the 
victor  alone  to  whom  the  evolution  of  ever  higher  and 
higher  organisms  is  due,  but  to  the  vanquished  also. 
The  victor  has  gained  new  virtues  in  every  strife,  and 
it  is  the  brave  resistance  of  the  vanquished  that  taught 
him  these  virtues. 

There  is  an  old  saga  of  a  northern  hero,  to  whose 
soul,  it  is  said,  were  added  all  the  souls  of  the  enemies 
he  slew.  The  strength,  the  accomplishments,  the 
abilities  of  the  conquered  became  the  spoils  of  the 
conqueror;  and  the  spirits  of  the  slain  continued  to 
live  in  the  spirit  of  the  victor,  and  made  him  stronger, 
nobler,  wiser,  better.  This  myth  correctly  represents 
the  natural  state  of  things,  and  we  learn  from  it  the 
great  truth,  that  our  efforts,  even  if  we  are  the  unfor- 
tunate party  that  is  to  be  vanquished,  will  not  be  in 
vain ;  our  lives  are  not  spent  in  uselessness,  if  we  but 
struggle  bravely  and  do  the  best  we  can  in  the  battle 
of  life.  Furthermore,  we  learn  to  respect  our  adver- 
saries and  to  honor  their  courage.  We  are  one  factor 
only  on  the  battlefield,  and  if  our  enemies  existed  not, 
we  would  not  be  what  we  are.  We  are  one  part  only 
of  the  process  of  life  and  our  enemies  are  the  counter- 
part. Any  contumely  that  we  put  upon  them  in  fool- 
ish narrow-mindedness,  debases  and  degrades  our- 
selves ;  any  dishonesty  that  we  show  in  fight,  falls 
back  upon  ourselves.  It  will  injure  our  enemies,  as 
was  intended,  but  it  will  do  greater  harm  to  ourselves, 
for  it  will  disgrace  us  ;  and  our  disgrace  in  that  case 
will  outlive  the  injury  of  our  enemies. 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  243 

Ethics  teaches  us  that  all  struggle  must  be  under- 
taken in  the  service  of  a  higher  and  greater  cause  than 
our  egoistic  self.  He  alone  will  conquer  who  fights  for 
something  greater  than  his  personal  interests;  and 
even  if  he  be  vanquished,  he  will  still  have  the  satis- 
faction that  his  ideal  is  not  conquered  with  him.  He 
will  find  successors  to  continue  his  work.  His  ideal, 
if  it  be  a  genuine  ideal,  will  rise  again  in  his  succes- 
sors and  they  will  accomplish  a  final  victory  for  his 
aspirations. 

The  Teutonic  nations,  —  the  Anglo-Saxons,  the 
Franks,  the  Germans  and  their  kin, — are,  it  appears,  in 
many  respects  the  most  successful  peoples  in  the  world, 
because  of  their  stern  ethics  of  undaunted  struggle  to 
which  they  have  adhered  since  prehistoric  times.  It 
was  no  disgrace  for  the  Teutonic  warrior  to  be  slain,  no 
dishonor  to  be  vanquished ;  but  it  was  infamy  worse 
than  death  to  be  a  coward,  it  was  a  disgrace  to  gain 
a  victory  by  dishonest  means.  The  enemy  was  re- 
lentlessly combated,  may  be  he  was  hated,  yet  it  would 
have  been  a  blot  on  one's  escutcheon  to  treat  him  with 
meanness.  It  was  not  uncommon  among  these  bar- 
barians for  the  victor  to  place  a  laurel  wreath  upon 
the  grave  of  his  foe,  whom  in  life  he  had  combated 
with  bitterest  hatred.  There  is  an  episode  told  in  the 
Nibelungensaga  which  characterizes  the  ethical  spirit 
of  the  combativeness  of  Teutonic  heroes.  Markgrave 
Rudiger  has  to  meet  the  grim  Hagen  and  to  do  him 
battle.  Seeing,  however,  that  his  enemy's  shield  is 
hacked  to  pieces,  he  offers  him  his  own,  whereupon 
they  proceed  to  fight. 

The  moral  teacher  must  not  be  blind  to  the  laws  of 
life.  Ethics  must  not  make  us  weak  in  the  struggle 
for  existence,  but  it  must  teach  us  the  way  to  fight  and 


244  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

must  show  us  the  higher  purpose  to  be  realized  by 
our  struggle. 

Naturalists  give  us  most  remarkable  reports  about 
the  degeneration  of  those  organs  and  their  functions 
and  abilities  which  are  not  used.  If  man  could  live 
without  reason,  without  education,  language,  without 
reason,  mankind  would  soon  degenerate  into  dumb 
brutes. 

Do  not  attempt  to  preach  a  morality  that  would  de- 
prive man  of  his  backbone.  Man  acquired  his  back- 
bone because  in  the  struggle  for  life  he  had  to  stand 
upright,  thus  to  keep  his  own.  If  it  were  possible 
at  all  to  lead  a  life  without  struggle,  the  backbone  of 
man  would  soon  become  a  rudimentary  organ.  But 
as  it  is  not  possible,  those  men  alone  will  survive  that 
are  strong'  characters,  that  stand  upright  in  the  strug- 
gle and  fight  with  manly  honesty  and  noble  courage. 
The  men  with  a  moral  backbone  alone  are  those  to 
whom  the  future  belongs. 

Ethics  must  teach  us  how  to  struggle ;  it  must  not 
hinder  us  in  the  combat  but  help  us.  And  ethics  will 
help  us.  Ethics  demands  that  we  shall  never  lose 
sight  of  the  whole  to  which  we  belong.  It  teaches  us 
never  to  forget  the  aim  which  humanity  attains  through 
the  efforts  of  our  conflicting  interests;  it  inculcates  the 
lesson  to  do  our  duty  in  the  battle  of  life,  not  only  be- 
cause this  is  required  by  our  own  interests,  but  be- 
cause it  is  the  law  of  life  that  we  have  to  obey.  By  a 
faithful  obedience  to  the  ethics  of  the  struggle  for  life, 
we  shall  promote  the  welfare  of  mankind  and  contrib- 
ute to  the  enhancement  of  human  progress. 


RENDER  NOT  EVIL  FOR  EVIL 


GOD  is  often  compared  in  the  Old  Testament  to  a 
shepherd  who  leads  his  people  in  the  paths  of  right- 
eousness ;  and  those  who  truthfully  obey  his  com- 
mands, who  allow  themselves  to  be  guided  by  him, 
are  called  his  sheep,  his  lambs,  his  flock.  Christ 
adopted  the  same  simile  and  often  refers  to  it.  In  the 
Acts  (viii,  32)  Christ  himself  is  compared  to  a  sheep. 
To  him  is  referred  the  prophecy  in  Isaiah  (liii,  7): 
"He  was  led  as  a  sheep  to  the  slaughter,  and  like  a 
lamb  dumb  before  his  shearers,  so  opened  he  not  his 
mouth." 

This  comparison  was  sufficient  to  g/'ve  the  crown  of  • 
glory  to  the  sheep.  Christians  forgot  that  similes  re- 
main similes ;  that  they  do  not  cover  the  truth  in  all 
respects,  but  in  one  or  two  points  only  :  and  thus  it 
happened  that  the  weakness  of  the  sheep,  its  sim- 
plicity, nay,  its  very  stupidity,  became  an  ideal  of  moral 
goodness  and  Christian  virtue.  This  misconception 
of  the  true  meaning  of  goodness  received  a  further 
support  in  such  passages  as  "Ye resist  not  evil,"  and 
"Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom 
of  heaven."  Mental  and  physical  weakness,  so  the 
doctrine  of  Christianity  seemed  to  say,  is  a  moral  merit ; 
and  the  principle  of  absolute  non-resistance  was  seri- 
ously defended  by  many  devout  believers. 

In  recent  times  Christ's  word  "Ye  resist  not  evil" 


246  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

has  come  again  into  prominence  through  the  teachings 
of  Count  Tolstoi,  who  not  only  adopted  it  as  a  prac- 
tical rule  of  conduct  but  attempted  to  show  through 
his  example  that  it  was  possible  to  live  up  to  it. 

Christ's  command,  "Ye  resist  not  evil,"  contains 
a  great  moral  truth,  and  Count  Tolstoi  was  taught  it 
not  through  traditional  belief  in  dogmatic  Christianity, 
but  through  the  hard  facts  of  life.  Having  enjoyed  a 
good  education,  he  had  become  an  unbeliever  by  his 
acquaintance  with  the  so  called  sciences,  and  in  his 
practical  experiences  he  found  himself  confronted  with 
many  anxieties :  care  and  worry  for  his  beloved  came 
upon  him  ;  he  beheld  the  pale  face  of  death  ;  and  in  the 
moment  of  despair  the  unbeliever  found  comfort  and 
strength  in  words  of  prayer. 

Count  Tolstoi  was  converted  not  by  the  sermons 
and  representations  of  a  subtle  apologetic  divine,  but 
by  the  overwhelming  logic  of  facts  consisting  in  the 
moral  relations  between  husband  and  wife,  brother 
and  brother,  friend  and  friend,  man  and  man.  It  was 
life  that  taught  the  lesson  "Ye  resist  not  evil"  to 
Tolstoi,  and  his  religion  is  a  religion  based  upon  ex- 
perience. 

The  myths  of  the  Saviour  who  came  into  the  world 
from  spheres  beyond,  contain  pearls  of  imperishable 
worth.  Having  ceased  to  believe  in  the  sacred  legend, 
we  may  very  well  preserve  the  moral  truths  that  like 
valuable  kernels  are  hidden  in  the  useless  husks  of 
dogmatism.  The  ethical  teacher  of  the  future  while 
rejecting  the  historical  fables  of  Christ's  life  with  an 
uncompromising  truthfulness,  must  extract  the  gold, 
purified  from  dross,  out  of  the  ores  of  the  old  religions. 

Christ's  word  "Ye  resist  not  evil"  must  not  be 
misinterpreted  as  if  it  meant  the  abolition  of  all  strug- 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  247 

gle  and  a  passive  submission  to  everything  vile  and 
low.  A  parallel  passage,  i  Peter,  iii,  8,  reads  as  fol- 
lows : 

"  Be  ye  all  of  one  mind,  having  compassion  one  of  another, 
love  as  brethren,  be  pitiful,  be  courteous  :  not  rendering  evil  for 
evil,  or  railing  for  railing  ;  but  contrariwise  blessing  ;  knowing 
that  ye  are  thereunto  called,  that  ye  should  inherit  a  blessing." 

Christ's  word  "  Ye  resist  not  evil"  demands  the 
suppression  of  the  natural  tendency  of  retaliation.  The 
brutish  desire  in  man  for  vengeance  whenever  he 
suffers  a  wrong,  should  give  place  to  brotherly  love 
and  forgiveness.  This  is  a  divine  command.  Yet 
divinity,  as  we  understand  the  term,  does  not  stand  in 
contradiction  to  nature.  Divinity  is  nature  ennobled 
elevated,  and  sanctified.  The  ethics  of  love  is  divine, 
because  it  is  firmly  established  upon  the  facts  of  life; 
and  science,  if  it  be  not  blind  to  the  moral  law  that 
pervades  nature,  will  find  that  it  is  true.  Spinoza, 
whose  ethics  is  not  that  of  revelation,  says  (Ethics, 
III,  43  and  44)  : 

"Hatred  is  increased  through  hatred  yet  can  be  extinguished 
through  love. 

"  Hatred  if  completely  conquered  by  love,  changes  into  love  ; 
and  this  love  will  be  greater  than  if  no  hatred  had  preceded  it." 

The  evil  of  this  world  cannot  be  lessened  by  coun- 
teracting it  through  new  evil.  You  cannot  diminish 
it  by  committing  more  evils.  The  logic  of  this  truth 
is  becoming  recognized  in  society  now.  Suppose  that 
some  one  being  in  a  rage,  called  you  names.  Would 
you  stoop  so  low  as  to  answer  in  the  same  tone  ?  Would 
you  childishly  act  like  the  bad  boy  saying  :  "You're 
another  !  "  Certainly  not,  unless  you  lose  your  temper 
and  do  things  that  you  will  later  regret. 

The  doctrine  "Ye  shall  not  render  evil  for  evil," 


248  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

in  this  sense,  will  be  more  absolutely  recognized  the 
higher  the  standard  of  moral  culture  is.  Yet  this  doc 
trine  does  not  at  all  imply  the  abolition  of  all  struggle 
and  the  suppression  of  combat  and  fight.  We  are  too 
much  accustomed  to  look  upon  struggle  as  the  root 
of  all  evil,  and  in  that  case  we  shall  erroneously  ex- 
pect that  a  world  of  moral  life  must  be  without  com- 
petition, without  war,  without  fight.  The  doctrine  of 
non-resistance,  in  the  sense  of  giving  up  all  efforts  to 
defend  that  which  is  right  and  just,  is  practically  and 
morally  untenable.  Life  in  all  its  many  phases  is  a 
constant  struggle,  and  the  ethics  of  life  demands  that 
we  shall  fight  the  good  fight  of  faith  trusting  in  the  in- 
vincibility of  the  moral  ideal. 

The  sentence  "Ye  resist  not  evil"  is  ambiguous 
and  it  appears  preferable  to  express  the  truth  of  this 
doctrine  in  the  words,  "Render  not  evil  for  evil." 
Evil  must  be  resisted,  but  not  by  other  evils ;  self- 
ishness must  be  overcome  but  not  by  other  and 
greater  selfishness.  Therefore,  by  the  side  of  the  doc- 
trine "Resist  not  evil  with  evil,"  let  there  appear  the 
command  :  Do  your  best  in  the  struggle  for  life  and 
conquer  evil,  not  because  your  own  personal  interests 
are  at  stake,  but  because  higher  principles  are  involved 
than  the  private  affairs  of  your  petty  self.  We  must 
never  lose  sight  of  the  truth  that  our  struggle  for  ex- 
istence, even  in  commercial  competition,  is  fought  for 
the  progress  of  humanity  and  for  an  ever  higher  and 
better  realization  of  human  ideals. 

Christ — that  is,  a  moral  teacher  as  described  in 
the  four  gospels — could  not  possibly  have  meant  by 
his  word  "Ye  resist  not  evil,"  that  doctrine  of  passive 
indolence  that  made  of  the  sheep  the  ideal  of  moral 
perfection.  For  Christ  himself  fought  and  struggled, 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  249 

he  discussed  and  wrangled  with  the  Scribes  and  Phar- 
isees. When  he  stood  before  Caiaphas,  according  to 
the  account  of  John,  he  was  smitten  in  his  face,  and 
although  he  was  ready  to  endure  another  blow,  al- 
though he  had  to  endure  worse  persecutions,  and 
although  he  was  not  willed,  even  if  he  had  been  able 
to  do  it,  to  retaliate  :  yet  he  did  not  suffer  it  with  a 
passive  non-resistance  ;  he  turned  to  the  man  who  beat 
him  and  took  him  to  account,  saying  :  "  If  I  have 
spoken  evil,  bear  witness  of  the  evil ;  but  if  well,  why 
smitest  thou  me?" 

The  doctrine  ''Render  not  evil  for  evil"  is  ad- 
dressed to  every  single  person  as  an  individual.  But  it 
does  not  refer  to  the  government,  nor  to  the  magistrate. 
If  you  are  a  judge  and  called  upon  to  pronounce  a  ver- 
dict, the  word  has  no  reference  to  your  judgment.  We 
as  persons  have  to  renounce  all  egotism  and  all  vin- 
dictiveness.  For  egotism  and  the  ill-will  of  the  human 
heart  are  the  roots  of  all  evil.  Our  egotism  and  the 
evil  wants  of  petty  personal  desires  must  be  renounced 
once  for  all  and  without  reserve,  not  only  where  we 
do  wrong,  but  also  where  we  suffer  wrong. 

That  Christ  did  not  intend  to  teach  the  weak  morals 
of  non-resistence  can  be  learned  from  his  own  de- 
meanor. When  he  and  his  disciples  came  to  Jeru- 
salem, "Jesus  went  into  the  temple,  and  began  to 
cast  out  them  that  sold  and  bought  in  the  temple,  and 
overthrew  the  tables  of  the  moneychangers,  and  the 
seats  of  them  that  sold  doves ;  and  would  not  suffer 
that  any  man  should  carry  any  vessel  through  the 
temple.  And  he  taught,  saying  unto  them,  Is  it  not 
written,  My  house  shall  be  called  of  all  nations  the 
house  of  prayer?  but  ye  have  made  it  a  den  of 
thieves." 


250  IfOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

Christ  did  not  render  evil  for  evil  where  his  per- 
sonal interests  were  involved,  yet  if  punishment  is  to 
be  called  an  evil,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  render  evil  for 
evil  in  that  dominion  where  he  considered  himself  as 
the  representative  of  Him  that — according  to  his  ideals 
of  religious  life — he  felt  had  sent  him. 

Humanity,  Christian  and  non-Christian,  is  under 
the  influence  of  the  sheep  allegory  still.  One  of  the 
greatest  biologists  denies  the  existence  of  moral  facts 
in  nature,  because  the  sheep  and  the  deer  are  eaten  by 
the  wolves,  and  because  in  human  society  the  same 
struggle  for  existence  as  in  brute  creation  is  fiercely 
fought,  although  with  more  refined  weapons.  The 
struggle  for  existence  will  continue,  it  can  not  be 
abolished,  because  it  is  a  natural  law,  and  sheepish- 
ness  will  never  triumph  in  the  world  of  real  life. 
Having  proved  this,  the  scientist  is  satisfied,  that  na- 
ture is  immoral. 

Let  us  beware  of  the  ethics  of  ovine  morality. 
Morality  is  not  negative,  it  is  not  mere  submission  to 
evil,  no  pure  passivity,  no  suffering,  simply:  morality  is 
positive.  Not  by  the  omission  of  certain  things  do  we 
do  right,  but  by  straining  all  the  faculties  of  mind  and 
body  to  do  our  best  in  the  struggle  for  life  which  we 
have  to  fight.  We  may  be  weak,  and  we  may  feel  our 
weakness.  The  greater  should  our  efforts  be,  to  fight 
the  struggle  ethically.  We  may  be  poor  in  spirit  and 
we  may  feel  our  want,  but  nature  will  supply  us  with 
that  which  we  want,  if  we  but  earnestly  struggle  to 
acquire  it.  He  who  is  strong  in  spirit  and  in  body, 
he  who  feels  his  strength  and  misuses  it,  will  not  be 
the  conqueror  in  the  end.  It  is  not  the  self-sufficient 
that  are  blessed;  but  those  who  are  aware  of  their  in- 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  251 

sufficiency.     This  only,   in   my  opinion,   can  be   the 
meaning  when  Christ  says  : 

"  Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit :  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of 
heaven." 

We  must  be  on  our  guard  against  unfeeling  stern- 
ness, yet  on  the  other  hand  let  us  not  drop  into  the 
other  extreme.  We  must  be  on  our  guard  against 
ethical  sentimentality  also.  There  is  too  much  preach- 
ing about  the  sweetness  of  religion  and  the  rapturous 
delight  of  ethics.  Yet  this  saccharine  religiosity  is  just 
as  impotent  and  useless  as  that  ovine  morality  which 
glorifies  in  its  weakness  and  does  not  struggle  for 
strength. 

Austere  rigidity  in  religion  and  ethics  is  like  a  rose 
without  odor,  it  is  life  without  gladness,  and  obedience 
without  loving  devotion.  The  passivity  of  a  lamb-like 
submission  is  idealized  weakness  fortified  and  strength- 
ened by  moral  vanity  and  sugared  over  with  senti- 
mental enthusiasm. 

Religion  and  ethics,  we  do  not  deny,  are  full  of 
sweetness  and  noble  joys,  yet  at  the  same  time  they 
are  stern  ;  they  are  of  an  unrelenting  severity  and 
majesty.  It  is  only  the  unison  of  both,  the  strength 
of  austerity  and  the  fervor  of  sentiment,  that  makes 
morality  wholesome,  sound,  and  healthy. 


RELIGION  AND  ETHICS. 


THERE  are  people  who  believe  that  theology  and 
metaphysics  have  nothing  to  do  with  morality.  Re- 
ligious and  philosophical  world-conceptions,  it  is  main- 
tained, are  one  thing  and  ethical  convictions  are  an- 
other. This  is'true  in  a  limited  sense  only.  It  is  true 
that  the  side  issues  of  theology  and  metaphysics,  which 
by  theologians  and  metaphysical  thinkers  are  generally 
considered  as  the  most  important  of  things,  have  as  a 
rule  little  or  no  bearing  whatever  on  morality.  In  so 
far,  however,  as  Theology  and  Metaphysics  discuss 
vital  religious  and  philosophical  problems,  they  have 
a  certain  relation  to  morality. 

Morality  depends  on  a  sound  conception  of  our- 
selves in  relation  to  the  world  and,  therefore,  philo- 
sophical and  religious  errors  will  have  an  injurious 
effect  upon  morality. 

If  we  allow  ourselves  to  be  carried  away  by  im- 
pulse, we  are  not  moral.  Animals  are  un-moral.  Their 
brutish  conduct  is  not  immoral ;  it  is  natural  in  them, 
as  it  becomes  their  brutish  nature;  and  their  good 
conduct  (self-sacrifice  of  mothers  for  their  young, 
etc.),  although  we  justly  praise  it,  cannot  be  properly 
considered  as  moral,  because  it  is  the  result  of  instinct 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  253 

done  from  impulse  and  not  an  act  of  conscious  delib- 
eration. Man  is  moral  in  so  far  as  he  consciously  and 
deliberately  regulates  his  actions  according  to  his  re- 
lations to  the  All.  Religion  supplies  him  with  the 
reason  why  the  principles  of  his  actions  should  be  such 
as  they  are,  and  why  he  should  do  what  he  considers 
to  be  right  and  proper  to  do. 

Religion,  if  understood  'to  be  our  recognition  of 
the  Unity  in  Nature,  teaches  us  to  consider  ourselves 
as  parts  of  the  whole  ;  and  who  can  doubt  its  strong 
influence  upon  all  our  conduct  ?  The  laws  of  the  Uni- 
verse govern  also  the  motions  of  our  body.  Heat  and 
gravitation  operate  as  much  in  the  functions  of  our 
organs  as  in  the  solar  systems  of  the  universe.  Our 
lives  depend  upon  surrounding  nature,  upon  the  at- 
mosphere we  breathe,  the  soil  upon  which  we  stand 
and  the  food  which  mother  earth  produces  for  us. 
Our  existence  is  a  continuous  exchange  and  intercom- 
munication with  the  whole  "in  which  we  live  and 
move  and  have  our  being."  The  very  pressure  of  the 
air  upon  our  limbs  is  part  of  our  life,  which,  if  taken 
away,  would  cause  instant  dissolution. 

But  we  are  not  only  physical  parts  of  Nature,  we 
belong  also  to  a  higher  order  of  natural  growth  which 
discloses  ethical  ideas  and  moral  duties.  The  threads 
of  each  individual  life  are  connected  with  the  lives  of 
other  beings  like  ourselves,  of  beings  whose  origin  is 
the  same  as  ours  and  with  whom  we  form  one  great 
family.  These  relations,  although  woven  of  invisible 
threads,  are  of  no  less  importance  than  the  coarser  re- 
lations of  our  body  to  physical  Nature.  These  rela- 
tions of  social  and  family  life,  if  recognised,  will  teach 
us  duties,  and  the  performance  of  these  duties  is  mor- 
ality. 


254  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

Religion,  Science,  Philosophy,  Ethics  and  Morals 
accordingly  are  closely  related  to  each  other;  religion 
is  the  recognition  of  the  Unity  in  Nature  which  makes 
us  feel  that  we  are  parts  of  it ;  Science  is  the  study  of 
the  several  departments  of  nature  by  observation  and 
classification  of  its  phenomena  ;  philosophy  is  the  re- 
sult of  the  sciences,  systematised.  Ethics  is  the  sci- 
ence of  morals,  and  Morality  is  our  behaviour  regu 
lated  by  religion,  viz.,  by  the  recognition  of  the  Unity 
of  Nature  in  all  its  phases,  the  lower  physical,  the 
physiological  and  above  all  the  social  relations  between 
man  and  man. 

Those  who  are  moral,  prove  that  they  have  re- 
ligion, for  the  moral  man  regulates  his  actions  in  ac- 
cordance with  his  duties  as  implied  by  his  relations  to 
the  All,  especially  to  his  fellow-beings.  It  is  of  great 
consequence  to  have  religion  in  this  sense,  but  it  is  of 
little  consequence  to  confess  a  religion.  Religion  has 
to  do  with  morals  and  morality,  but  all  the  different 
religions,  \.  e.  the  rites  of  churches,  synagogues,  and 
mosques,  the  various  confessions,  church-membership, 
etc.,  have  little  or  no  connection  with  morality,  and 
if  they  have,  it  is  only  in  so  far  as  they  contain  religion. 

False  religions  and  wrong  philosophies  had  always 
detrimental  effects  upon  their  adherents.  The  quiet- 
ism of  India  has  nipped  in  the  bud  a  grand  and  rich 
civilisation,  and  the  dualism  of  the  middle  ages  has 
dragged  many  thousand  victims  to  a  shameful  death 
for  the  alleged  crime  of  witchcraft.  The  evil  conse- 
quences of  fundamental  errors  in  philosophy  and  in 
religion  bear  witness  to  the  dependence  of  morality 
on  philosophy  and  religion.  If  you  poison  the  religious 
or  philosophical  views  of  a  man  or  of  a  nation,  you 
will  poison  their  morality  also.  The  roots  of  man's 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  255 

intellectual  life  (viz.,  of  that  in  man  which  makes  of 
him  a  human  being)  are  his  convictions  and  his  emo- 
tional inclinations  (i.  e.,  his  philosophy  and  his  re- 
ligion), while  his  actions  are  the  fruits  thereof,  by 
which  we  may  recognise  their  soundness  and  vitality. 


THE  ETHICS  OF  LITERARY  DISCUSSION, 


THE  ethics  of  literary  discussion  can  be  expressed 
in  one  sentence  :  Let  the  search  for  truth  be  your  su- 
preme maxim  to  which  all  other  interests  must  be  sub- 
ordinate and  subservient.  Controversies  which  (not 
unlike  duels)  are  waged  for  mere  personal  matters, 
have  either  to  conform  to  this  ethical  maxim,  or  if  they 
do  not,  they  will  be  recognised  as  downright  unethical 
or  at  least  non-ethical. 

The  following  rules  are  derived  from  the  ethical 
maxim  of  literary  discussion  : 

Never  defend  an  opinion  which  you  do  not  believe 
yourself.  Never  accept  a  belief  which  is  not  demon- 
strable. You  must  not  only  be  convinced  that  it  is 
so,  but  your  arguments  must  be  strong  enough  to  con- 
vince impartial  readers. 

Strength  of  argument  rests  on  the  following  con- 
ditions : 

1.  The  facts  upon  which  it  is  based,  must  be  well 
established. 

2.  These  facts  must  cover  the  whole  field,  so  as  to 
be  exhaustive  as  instances. 

3.  The  reasoning  must  be  logical. 

4.  The  presentation  of  the  argument  must  be  lucid. 

5.  Your  presentation  cannot  be  lucid  if  you  are  not 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  257 

clear  yourself.     Accordingly,   you  must   be  ready  to 
define  every  word  you  use. 

6.  Technical  terms  should  not  be  employed  unless 
their  definitions  are  given. 

7.  Be  careful  that  your  words  and  especially  yo'ur 
terms  are  used  as  they  are  commonly  understood  and 
not  in  a  double  or  ambiguous  sense. 

8.  Make  the  main  points  prominent  and  do  not  lose 
yourself  in  matters  of  detail,  however  interesting  those 
details    may    be.     They  draw    the    attention  of  your 
readers  and  of  yourself  from  the  main  subject. 

These  rules  being  observed,  you  can  fearlessly 
await  the  most  powerful  adversary. 

Before  attacking  the  position  of  your  adversary,  try 
to  understand  his  arguments  from  his  standpoint. 

Acknowledge  fully  where  your  adversary  is  right. 

Where  he  uses  an  ambiguous  term,  state  plainly 
in  what  sense  the  term  would  be  allowable. 

This  is  a  matter  of  justice  due  to  your  adversary. 
To  show  justice  in  this  way  is  advantageous  first,  to 
your  opponent,  and  then,  perhaps  in  a  higher  degree, 
to  yourself,  and  what  is  most  important,  to  the  problem 
under  discussion.  It  clears  the  situation  and  you  thus 
limit  the  field  of  controversy  to  those  points  where  you 
know  your  adversary  to  be  wrong. 

The  points  of  agreement  have  become  neutral 
ground  which,  it  is  true,  your  adversary  can  use  for 
an  honest  retreat,  if  he  chooses.  However,  his  anni- 
hilation is  not  the  object  of  the  discussion,  but  the 
elucidation  of  truth.  If  he  does  not  choose  the  chance 
of  an  honest  retreat,  his  defeat  will  be  the  more  inev- 
itable, the  more  carefully  the  field  of  contest  has  been 
limited  to  his  errors. 

The    weakness    of    an  opponent  is  generally  sup- 


258  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

posed  to  be  the  strength  of  his  antagonist.  This  is 
utterly  false.  It  must  be  a  poor  cause  you  defend,  if 
it  profits  by  the  weakness  of  its  adversaries.  The 
strength  of  an  adversary  adds  to  your  own  strength  if 
you  defend  a  cause  that  is  worth  defending.  The  weak- 
ness of  an  adversary  lowers  you  down  to  his  own  in- 
tellectual weakness.  Therefore,  do  not  have  any  discus- 
sion with  weak  opponents,  and  if  you  cannot  avoid  an 
encounter,  do  not  take  advantage  of  their  weakness. 
The  common  issue  is  lost  sight  of  by  abusing  an  ad- 
versary for  his  weakness,  ignorance,  or  faults.  Conse- 
quently, you  being  the  stronger,  the  duty  of  helping  and 
promoting  your  adversary  devolves  on  you.  This  should 
be  done  without  ado,  simply  by  giving  information. 

If  your  adversary  uses  rude  language  or  deroga- 
tory expressions,  there  is  no  need  of  following  his  ex- 
example  or  of  attempting  to  out  do  him.  Either  do  not 
answer  his  rant  at  all,  or  if  you  cannot  avoid  giving  an 
answer,  ignore  all  personal  disparagement  and  confine 
your  comments  to  the  cause  at  issue.  If  you  adopt 
the  railing  method  of  your  adversary,  you  lower  your- 
self to  his  moral  inferiority. 

Never  use  sophisms. 

Sophisms  easily  impose  upon  large  masses,  but 
they  do  not  delude  the  few  independent  thinkers  who 
are  perhaps  silent  by-standers.  The  ultimate  result 
has  never  as  yet  depended  upon  the  masses  who  judge 
rashly,  but  upon  the  judgment  of  the  few  independent 
thinkers  who  judge  slowly  but  in  most  cases  justly. 

Sophisms  are  dangerous  to  the  parties  who  employ 
them  ;  sophisms  will  ultimately  fall  back  and  harm 
their  own  inventor.  By  using  sophisms  you  venture 
on  untenable  ground,  there  to  plant  your  colors,  and 
if  your  enemy  is  on  the  alert,  you  will  lose  not  only  the 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  259 

position  but  your  colors  also.  Sophisms  afford  inci- 
dental and  transitory  advantages. 

If  your  adversary  by  negligence  shows  a  hidden 
weakness  or  is  guilty  of  a  self-contradiction,  point  it 
out  to  him,  stating  at  the  same  time  how  he  should 
have  expressed  himself  from  his  own  standpoint.  If 
his  negligence  is  merely  carelessness  of  verbal  expres- 
sion, you  have  settled  the  point  for  good.  However,  if 
the  self-contradiction  lies  deeper,  you  have  thus  limited 
the  field  of  discussion  (as  suggested  above)  to  those 
points  where  the  difference  of  the  issues  at  stake  will 
be  seen  to  be  primary  and  radical. 

This  always  is  the  end  toward  which  all  honest 
and  well  directed  discussion  must  tend.  Even  if  the 
disputants  cannot  gain  the  best  of  one  another,  their 
discussion  must  elucidate  the  problem  about  which 
the  discussion  is  waged.  The  disputants  must  learn 
by  their  discussion  in  how  far  they  agree  and  wherein 
their  differences  consist :  whether  it  is  only  a  difference 
of  words  (which  happens  much  oftener  than  is  gen- 
erally imagined),  or  a  material  difference.  If  it  is  a 
material  difference,  we  must  find  out  by  the  discussion, 
whether  the  difference  is  fundamental,  i.  e.,  whether 
the  parties  disagree  because  they  start  from  different 
principles  (which  they  have  accepted  as  axioms)  or 
whether  it  is  a  different  interpretation  of  facts  acknowl- 
edged by  both  parties,  or  whether  one  party  takes  its 
stand  on  facts  which  are  not  recognised  by  the  other 
party  as  sufficiently  established. 

Whatever  should  be  the  result  of  a  discussion  con- 
ducted upon  such  ethical  maxims,  the  discussion  would 
never  be  entirely  useless,  but  would  be  valuable  in 
exact  proportion  to  the  issue  at  stake  and  the  com- 
bined abilities  of  both  opponents. 


SEXUAL  ETHICS. 


SEXUAL  ethics  is  the  very  core  of  all  ethics.  It  is 
the  most  important  sphere  of  human  conduct,  the  ten- 
derest,  holiest,  and  most  delicate  realm  of  moral  aspira- 
tions. When  speaking  of  morality,  we  first  of  all  think 
of  sexual  purity.  So  much  is  sexual  ethics  regarded 
as  the  very  essence  of  morality  !  And  no  wonder  that 
it  is  so.  Consider  but  for  a  moment  the  importance 
of  sexual  relations  !  The  future  of  our  race  depends 
upon  them.  The  generations  to  come  are  shaped, 
they  are  created  through  sexual  relations. 

The  legalized  form  of  the  sexual  relation  is  called 
marriage.  If  marriage  were  not  a  sacrament,  we 
ought  to  make  it  such,  for  it  is  the  dearest,  the  most 
important,  and  most  sacred  of  all  human  bonds. 

The  relation  of  parents  to  children  is  sacred  in- 
deed. It  is  the  relation  of  the  past  to  the  present. 
Parents  hand  down  the  hallowed  torch  of  spirit- 
life  to  the  present  generation  ;  and  if  there  is  any- 
thing holier  still,  it  certainly  is  the  alliance  between 
husband  and  wife  to  become  parents  and  to  devote 
themselves  to  the  continuation  of  humanity  and  all 
the  spiritual  treasures  of  the  race. 

The  sexual  relation  is  a  natural  want  produced 
through  the  necessity  of  self-preservation.  The  hu- 
man soul  yearns  to  live  ;  it  yearns  to  grow  and  to  mul- 
tiply. In  the  face  of  death  it  longs  for  immortality, 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  261 

but  immortality  is  not  granted  to  the  individual  and 
in  order  to  become  immortal  an  individual  must  grow 
beyond  the  limits  of  individuality.  The  natural  con- 
sequence of  these  conditions  is  that  immortality  can 
spring  from  love  only.  Immortality  must  be  gained 
by  sacrifice,  it  must  be  taken  by  conquest,  and  there  is 
but  one  power  that  can  gain  immortality.  It  is  that 
power  of  which  the  Song  of  Songs  says,  "  it  is  stronger 
than  death."  That  one  power  is  the  holiness  of  the 
sexual  relation,  it  is  matrimonial  love. 

If  we  deprive  sex-relation  of  its  sanctity,  it  sinks 
down  far  below  the  most  brutish  acts  of  lowest  animal 
life.  Human  sex-relation  in  which  the  spiritual  ele- 
ments of  love  and  an  exchange  of  soul  are  lacking  de- 
grades man  and  more  so  woman  ;  it  deprives  them  of 
their  sanctity  and  sullies  the  holiest  emotions  they 
are  capable  of — the  longing  for  immortal  life.  Animal 
sex-relations  are  at  least  natural.  Animals  yield  to 
their  natural  wants  without  any  consciousness  of  their 
importance  or  consequences.  In  the  absence  of 
thought,  it  is  nature  that  acts  in  them.  Immoral  men 
and  women,  who  prostitute  the  holiest  sentiments  be- 
cause they  imagine  they  find  a  pleasure  in  so  doing, 
cease  to  remain  natural  and  accustom  themselves  ar- 
tificially to  unnatural  wants  which  weaken  their  bodies 
and  poison  their  souls. 

The  apostle  (in  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  vi.  2) 
speaks  of  the  commandment  "Honor  thy  father  and 
mother,"  as  being  "  the  first  commandment  with  prom- 
ise." Reverence  to  parents  is  our  willingness  to  re- 
ceive the  sacred  torch  of  human  soul-life  with  a  grate- 
ful mind.  Lack  of  reverence  is  a  self-deprivation  of  this 
rich  inheritance,  and  the  highest  reverence  is  shown 
not  by  a  passive  reception  of  merely  conservative 


262  IIOMIUKV  01-   SCIE.\CI:. 

obedience,  but  by  actively  taking  possession  of  the 
spiritual  treasures  by  sifting  them  critically  and  by  in- 
creasing their  value.  In  fact,  there  is  no  passive  re- 
ceiving ;  all  receiving  is  an  active  taking.  Says  Goethe  : 

"  What  from  your  father's  heritage  is  lent, 
Earn  it  anew  to  really  possess  it." 

Greater  than  the  promise  of  the  fifth  command- 
ment is  the  blessing  that  accompanies  sexual  purity. 
Chastity  is  the  condition  of  physical,  mental,  and 
moral  health.  When  the  Romans  became  acquainted 
with  the  valiant  barbarians  of  the  North,  they  recog- 
nized the  natural  holiness  of  the  sexual  relation  as  the 
source  of  their  strength.  Caesar  as  well  as  Tacitus 
are  fully  aware  of  this  fact  and  give  in  their  histor- 
ical accounts  of  German  life  with  keen  foresight  due 
prominence  to  this  most  important  factor  in  the  evo- 
lution of  a  nation  of  barbarians. 

The  sexual  instinct  of  man  serves  a  most  important 
and  sacred  purpose  ;  it  is  the  preservation  of  human 
soul-life,  it  is  the  attainment  of  immortality.  If  it  is 
led  into  other  channels,  it  decoys  man  into  danger- 
ous aberrations.  Woe  to  those  who  find  pleasure  in 
depriving  it  of  its  sanctity!  The  curse  that  falls  upon 
them  will  outlive  their  lives,  for  it  will  go  down  to 
their  children  and  the  children  of  their  children. 

It  is  not  ethereal  prudery  that  nature  demands  of 
us,  not  an  extirpation  or  suppression  of  nature,  but  an 
elevation  and  purification,  that  the  noblest  features 
of  nature's  living  and  moving  and  being  may  be  devel- 
oped. A  cynical  attitude  towards  the  mysteries  of 
sexual  life  besmirches  the  soul  of  man  with  moral  filth. 
Chastity  has  regard  for  laws  that  underlie  the  procrea- 
tion of  life,  and  reverence  for  the  tenderest  and  most 
wonderful  of  nature's  secret  dispensations. 


MONOGAMY  AND  FREE  LOVE. 


IF  we  understand  by  free  love  what  the  word 
literally  means,  an  absence  of  all  compulsion  to  love  so 
that  love  is  granted  and  received  as  a  free  gift,  what 
can  be  better,  nobler,  and  more  natural  than  free  love  ? 
Love  must  always  be  free — or  it  is  not  love.  Accord- 
ingly, free  love  is  a  matter  of  course,  which  in  its  pro- 
per meaning  no  one  can  dispute.  Yet  if  we  understand 
by  free  love  that  which  as  a  rule  is  preached  by  most 
of  the  so-called  apostles  of  free  love,  it  would  mean 
the  absence  of  all  restraint  in  the  relation  of  the  sexes, 
the  destruction  of  its  ideal  element  and  the  reign  of 
licentious  laxity.  In  that  case  it  is  only  a  beautiful 
name  that  has  been  given  to  an  ugly  monster  ;  it  is 
a  devil  that  appears  in  the  garment  of  an  angel  ;  it  is 
moral  filth  praised  as  celestial  manna. 

There  are  laws  of  life  which  we  must  obey  under 
penalty  of  perdition,  and  there  are  laws  of  love  which 
we  must  obey  under  penalty  of  destroying  the  holiness 
of  love  or  even  defeating  its  end  and  purpose. 

The  purpose  of  love,  that  is  of  sexual  love,  is  not 
the  gratification  of  the  sexual  instinct,  nor  is  it  any 
pleasure  that  man  may  derive  from  such  gratification. 
Wherever  there  is  a  gratification  in  love  or  in  friend- 
ship, it  is,  regarded  from  the  moral  point  of  view,  in- 
cidental ;  it  is  of  secondary  consideration  and  we  need 


264  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

not  speak  of  it  here.  The  purpose  of  sexual  love,  its 
end  and  its  holy  law,  is  the  welding  of  two  souls  into 
one  so  that  a  new  soul-life  may  spring  from  it  in  which 
the  two  souls  are  inseparably  fused. 

What  is  soul  ?     The  Saxon  poet  says  : 
"  Soul  is  form  and  doth  the  body  make." 

Soul  is  the  form  of  a  living  organism.  A  fusion  of 
souls  actually  takes  place  in  the  procreation  of  a  new 
life  ;  and  this  fusion  of  souls  is  one  of  those  mysteries 
of  nature  which  even,  though  science  should  succeed  in 
explaining  to  our  satisfaction  its  mechanical  process, 
will  forever  remain  a  wonder  before  which  we  stand 
spell-bound  in  awe  and  admiration — a  wonder  which 
is  grander  and  more  miraculous  than  all  miracles  in 

which  many  of  us  are  so  fond  of  believing. 

* 
*  * 

What  is  the  law  of  love  that  must  be  obeyed?  The 
law  of  love  is  obedience  to  the  purpose  of  love,  and 
the  purpose  of  love  is  one  of  the  holiest  duties  of 
man  ;  it  is  the  building  up  of  our  race.  And  this  can 
be  accomplished  only  if  it  is  done  with  truthfulness, 
devotion,  and  self  sacrifice. 

The  love  of  friendship  between  congenial  minds, 
the  love  of  the  teacher  to  his  pupils,  of  the  preacher 
to  his  congregation,  are  also  a  building  up,  a  preserva- 
tion and  a  transference  of  soul-life  in  the  human  race  ; 
but  conjugal  love  is  devoted  to  the  procreation  of  new 
souls,  and  without  the  sex  relation  of  conjugal  love 
humanity  would  die  out. 

Conjugal  love  in  its  legal  form  is  called  marriage, 
and  the  present  form  of  marriage  among  all  the  civil- 
ized races  is  monogamy.  Humanity  has  found  by 
experience  that  society  prospers  best  where  the  sexual 
relations  are  so  arranged  that  one  husband  and  one 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  265 

wife  constitute  the  foundation  of  a  family.  The  races 
in  which  polyandry  prevails  are  rare  exceptions  ;  and 
wherever  polyandry  is  the  normal  state  of  society, 
there  is,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  no  civilization,  no  cul- 
ture, no  progress.  We  have  reasons  to  believe  that 
polyandric  tribes  are  a  very  low  phase  of  human  so- 
ciety, perhaps  even  a  state  of  degeneration  which  in 
the  end  will  lead  to  extinction. 

Polygamy  is  practiced  still  in  Asia,  and  it  has  been 
practiced  among  highly  civilized  people.  Yet  wher- 
ever monogamous  and  polygamous  nations  were  rivals 
for  supremacy,  the  monogamous  nation  proved  always 
victorious  in  every  kind  of  competition,  in  war  as  well 
as  in  peace. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  monogamy  is  that  form 
of  matrimonial  relations  which  best  attains  the  ends 
of  sexual  love.  Polygamous  nations  may  have,  but 
as  a  rule  they  do  not  have  more  children  than  monoga- 
mous nations,  yet  the  children  raised  in  monogamous 
family  life  are  sturdier,  healthier,  and  better  educated. 
The  institution  of  polygamy,  while  it  degrades  woman, 
easily  induces  man  to  marry  merely  for  the  gratifica- 
tion of  their  sexual  appetites,  and  the  seriousness  of 
the  duties  of  marriage  is  overlooked. 

The  ultimate  purpose  of  marriage  is  the  preserva- 
tion of  human  soul-life,  and  if  monogamy  is  more  effi- 
cient in  this  one  point  than  polygamy,  if  it  enables 
man  to  raise  a  generation  that  loves  freedom  and  de- 
lights in  progress,  it  must  be  preferred  whatever  other 
advantages  or  pleasures  might  be  connected  with  any 
other  system  of  regulating  the  sexual  relations  in  hu- 
man society. 

Monogamous  nations  are  distinguished  by  love  of 
freedom  and  by  a  progressive  spirit ;  polygamous  peo- 


->«•  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

pie  are  on  the  contrary  easily  enslaved.  Their  life 
as  a  rule  shows  a  state  of  stagnancy,  and  their  history 
consists  of  a  series  of  court  intrigues  and  palace  revolu- 
tions. 

Monogamy  has  become  a  holy  institution  to  the 
nations  of  Aryan  speech,  because  their  civilization 
rests  upon  monogamous  family  life.  So  long  as  the 
moral  sense  of  a  nation  is  vigorous,  it  will  most  se- 
verely resent  whatever  threatens  to  destroy  the  holi- 
ness of  monogamous  family  life.  Thus  the  apostles  of 
free  love  when  they  attempt  to  attack  and  destroy  mon- 
ogamy will  meet  with  almost  unanimous  resistance. 

* 
*  * 

The  theory  of  free  love  in  the  sense  of  unre- 
stricted sensuality  is  sometimes  claimed  to  be  the  nat- 
ural state,  while  matrimony  is  denounced  by  the  de- 
fenders of  free  love  as  unnatural.  If  that  were  so,  all 
the  institutions  of  civilization  ought  to  be  considered 
unnatural.  Raw  food  would  be  natural  and  cooked 
food  unnatural ;  to  live  like  the  monkeys  of  the  Sunda 
Islands  would  be  natural,  while  plowing,  sowing,  and 
harvesting  would  be  unnatural.  Indeed  the  claim  that 
free  love  is  the  natural  state  has  been  made  only  by 
most  immature  minds,  who  are  without  knowledge  of 
the  historical  growth  of  our  institutions,  who  are  not 
familiar  with  the  evils  of  such  former  states  of  society 
as  are  supposed  to  be  more  natural. 

The  defenders  of  free  love  very  often  lack  all  per- 
sonal experience  of  harmonious  and  healthy  family 
life.  Not  infrequently  they  have  sprung  from  a  mar- 
riage of  ill-mated  parents  and  have  been  too  deeply 
impressed  with  certain  incidental  evils  developed  in 
such  cases  by  the  monogamous  system.  It  would  be 
a  rare  exception  indeed  if  a  father  or  a  mother  would 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE,  267 

advocate  for  their  children  the  theory  of  unrestrained 
sexual  intercourse. 

Free  love  might  perhaps  be  the  correct  theory,  if 
such  institutions  as  marriage  could  be  judged  from 
the  standpoint  of  single  individuals.  The  sex  relation 
however  is  of  greater  concern  than  mere  individual 
interest ;  and  the  problems  rising  therefrom  must  be 
judged  from  the  higher  standpoint  of  the  common 
welfare  of  society. 

The  nature  of  human  society  develops  certain  re- 
lations which  are  wanting  in  the  lower  stages  of  animal 
life ;  but  they  are  nevertheless  just  as  natural.  Who 
would  say  the  oak  is  less  natural  than  the  lichen,  only 
because  the  oak  represents  a  higher  stage  in  the  evo- 
lution of  plant  life?  The  oak  however  would  become 
unnatural,  it  would  be  in  a  morbid  state,  if  its  organs 
would  degenerate  so  as  to  fall  back  to  the  lower  stages 
of  plant  life. 

Let  us  beware  lest  in  trying  to  be  natural,  we 
should  degrade  ourselves  into  habits  which  may  be 
natural  to  animals  but  are  most  unnatural  to  human 
beings—  not  that  the  satisfaction  of  the  animal  wants 
of  man  is  unworthy  of  his  higher  nature,  but  that  the 

animal  way  of  satisfying  them  must  be  condemned. 

* 
*  * 

It  cannot  be  concealed  however  that  as  high  an 
ideal  as  monogamy  is,  it  sometimes  demands  great 
sacrifices ;  and  the  social  sentiment  which  by  law  as 
well  as  by  public  opinion  enforces  the  institution  of 
monogamy,  will  sometimes  have  its  victims.  Mar- 
riages in  which  a  man  and  a  woman  who  for  some 
reason  cannot  agree,  are  joined  together  until  death 
shall  part  them,  will  produce  misery  that  changes  life 
into  hell.  There  are  also  cases  in  which  for  some  rea- 


268  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

son  or  other  a  legalization  of  the  bond  that  has  joined 
two  noble  souls  in  sacred  love,  could  not  take  place. 
There  are  several  well  known  instances  even  among 
great  thinkers  and  geniuses  of  literary  fame.  There 
are  some  cases  that  cannot  be  measured  by  the  usual 
standard  of  morality.  It  is  a  fact  that  men  and  women 
whose  fates  led  them  into  paths  that  were  different 
from  the  prescribed  forms  of  marital  relations  suf- 
fered greatly  from  public  prejudice.  We  should  in 
such  cases  remember  how  kindly  Christ  treated  the 
woman  that  was  found  guilty.  "  He  that  is  without 
sin  among  you,"  Christ  said,  and  we  understand  that 
he  here  refers  to  the  sins  against  our  sexual  ideal  of 
morality,  "let  him  first  cast  a  stone  at  her." 

The  sexual  instinct  in  man  is  a  most  powerful  ele- 
ment of  his  soul  life.  It  is  dangerous  to  rouse  it  and 
more  dangerous  still  to  suppress  or  eradicate  it.  The 
whole  vigor  of  natural  forces  is  hidden  in  it.  Sexual 
love  wherever  it  grows  is  a  serious  thing  to  deal  with. 
If  it  cannot  have  its  way  in  legitimate  channels,  it  will 
like  steam  that  is  shut  up,  break  its  way  through 
laws  and  customs  in  spite  of  prejudices  and  public 
condemnation. 

Let  us  therefore  beware  on  the  one  hand  lest  we 
fall  into  temptation,  and  on  the  other  hand  when  we 
see  the  mote  in  the  eye  of  our  brother,  lest  our  judg- 
ment be  too  severe.  Those  who  are  without  sin,  be- 
ware that  they  preserve  the  purity  of  their  soul.  He 
who  according  to  the  holy  legend  of  the  Christian  gos- 
pel was  above  all  temptation,  abstained  from  throwing 
a  stone.  He  said  in  his  lordly  dignity  to  the  adul- 
teress :  "Go  and  sin  no  more." 


MORALITY  AND  VIRTUE. 


MORALITY  is  taught  in  our  churches  and  in  our 
schools  ;  it  is  preached  in  our  religious  and  liberal 
congregations.  And  yet  there  is  a  strong  doubt  in 
the  minds  of  many  whether  obedience  to  moral  pre- 
scripts will  be  a  help  to  a  man  who  wants  to  get  on  in 
life.  We  hear  it  again  and  again  that  the  moral  man 
is  the  stupid  man,  the  dupe  of  the  smart  impostor, 
while  the  man  of  the  world,  the  man  of  business  and  of 
success  must  use  misrepresentations.  Strict  honesty 
is  said  to  be  impossible.  We  are  told  by  men  of 
learning  and  experience  who  are  supposed  to  know 
the  world,  that  "the  two  sayings  'Be  virtuous 
and  you  will  be  happy'  and  'Honesty  is  the  best 
policy,'  are  very  questionable."  And  it  is  claimed  by 
many  that  if  that  kind  of  honesty  which  never  mis- 
represents nor  ever  keeps  back  part  of  the  truth,  were 
practiced,  it  would  be  difficult  to  carry  on  business.* 

This  view  of  life  according  to  which  the  utility  of 
honesty  is  of  a  doubtful  character,  which  induces  us  to 
incline  toward  trusting  in  dishonesty  as  a  good  policy, 
which  makes  trickery  and  the  methods  of  misrepre- 
sentation appear  as  promoting  our  interests,  is  the 
worst  error,  the  falsest  conception  of  life  and  the  most 

*  See  the  article  "A  Few  Instances  of  Applied  Ethics  "  in  The  Open  Court 
No. 219. 


ayo  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

dangerous  superstition  that  can  prevail,  and  woe  to 
that  community  where  it  becomes  prevalent. 

The  grocer  who  sells  impure  goods  as  pure,  the 
merchant  who  inveigles  people  to  buy  by  false  labels 
will  succeed  in  cheating  the  public  time  and  again. 
But  let  us  not  be  hasty  in  forming  our  opinion, 
that  cheating  is  advantageous  ;  we  shall  find  that  in 
the  long  run  this  man  cannot  prosper  through  mis- 
representations. There  is  but  one  thing  that  will  wear, 
that  is  truth,  and  truthfulness  is  the  only  good  policy. 

The  man  who  intends  to  cheat  must  be  very  smart, 
very  wide-awake  and  very  active  in  order  to  succeed, 
and  in  the  end  he  will  find  out  that  better  and  easier 
rewards  are  allotted  to  the  industry  and  intelligence 
that  are  used  in  the  service  of  straightforward  and 
honest  purposes. 

Several  curious  counterfeits  are  exhibited  under 
glass  to  the  inspection  of  the  public  in  the  treasury  of 
the  United  States  at  Washington,  and  among  them 
are  two  bills,  one  of  fifty  the  other  of  twenty  dollars, 
both  executed  with  brush  and  pen  only  and  yet  they 
are  marvels  of  exactness,  and  it  must  have  been  very 
hard  to  discover  that  they  were  imitations.  No  won- 
der that  they  passed  through  several  banks  before  they 
were  detected.  The  man  who  made  them  was  an 
artist  and  he  must  have  spent  on  their  fabrication 
many  weeks  of  close  work.  For  the  same  amount  of 
similar  artistic  and  painstaking  labor  he  would  have 
easily  realised  more  than  double  the  return  of  the 
value  which  these  counterfeits  bear  on  their  faces. 

Is  there  any  character  more  instructive  than  Eph- 
raim  Jenkinson  in  Oliver  Goldsmith's  world-famous 
novel"TheVicarof  Wakefield."  Howsuccessfuljenkin- 
son  was  in  his  calling  as  a  trickster  and  a  rogue!  and  yet 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  271 

to  be  caught  but  once  in  a  hundred  times  is  for  a  rogue 
sufficient  to  ruin  him  forever.  The  Vicar  and  Jenkin- 
son  meet  in  the  prison,  and  when  the  Vicar,  having 
recognised  by  his  voice  the  man  who  cheated  him  out 
of  his  horse,  expresses  surprise  at  his  youthful  appear- 
ance, the  man  answered,  "Sir,  you  are  little  ac- 
quainted with  the  world  ;  I  had  at  that  time  false  hair, 
and  have  learned  the  art  of  counterfeiting  every  age 
from  seventeen  to  seventy."  Jenkinson  indeed  appears 
as  a  master  of  his  trade,  yet  he  adds  with  a  sigh  : 
"Ah  !  sir,  had  I  but  bestowed  half  the  pains  in  learn- 
ing a  trade  that  I  have  in  learning  to  be  a  scoundrel, 
"  I  might  have  been  a  rich  man  at  this  day." 

Jenkinson  is  too  smart  to  be  wise  enough  to  follow 
the  experience  of  millenniums,  laid  down  in  the  moral 
rules,  and  he  found  this  out  when  he  had  leisure 
enough  to  think  of  his  life  within  the  prison  walls.  He 
says  on  another  occasion  to  the  Vicar : 

"Indeed  I  think,  from  my  own  experience,  that 
"the  knowing  one  is  the  silliest  fellow  under  the  sun. 
"  I  was  thought  cunning  from  my  very  childhood : 
"when  but  seven  years  old,  the  ladies  would  say  that 
"I  was  a  perfect  little  man  ;  at  fourteen  I  knew  the 
"world,  cocked  my  hat,  and  loved  the  ladies;  at 
"twenty,  though  I  was  perfectly  honest,  yet  everyone 
"thought  me  so  cunning  that  not  one  would  trust  me. 
"  Thus  I  was  at  last  obliged  to  turn  sharper  in  my  own 
"defence,  and  have  lived  ever  since,  my  head  throb- 
"bing  with  schemes  to  deceive,  and  my  heart  palpi- 
"tating  with  fears  of  detection.  I  used  often  to  laugh 
"at  your  honest,  simple  neighbor  Flamborough,  and 
"one  way  or  another  generally  cheated  him  once  a 
"year.  Yet  still  the  honest  man  went  forward  with- 
"out  suspicion  and  grew  rich,  while  I  still  continued 


272  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

"tricksy  and  cunning,  and  was  poor,  without  the  con- 
"solation  of  being  honest." 

Only  a  very  superficial  experience  leads  us  to  the 
assumption  that  wickedness  is  a  help  in  the  world  and 
that  the  unscrupulous  have  an  advantage  in  life.  And 
this  is  a  sore  temptation  to  those  who  believe  that  it 
is  so.  Says  Asaph  in  the  seventy- third  psalm  : 

"But  as  for  me,  my  feet  were  almost  gone.  My  steps  had 
well  nigh  slipped. 

"For  I  was  envious  at  the  foolish,  when  I  saw  the  prosperity 
of  the  wicked. 

"They  are  not  in  trouble  as  other  men;  neither  are  they 
plagued  like  other  men. 

"Therefore  pride  encompasseth  them  about  as  a  chain;  vio- 
lence covereth  them  as  a  garment. 

"Their  eyes  stand  out  with  fatness:  they  have  more  than 
their  heart  could  wish." 

But  the  prosperity  of  the  wicked  is  mere  appear- 
ance. It  is  the  state  of  the  world  as  things  seem  to 
be,  when  only  isolated  instances  are  considered.  The 
wicked  may  succeed  a  hundred  times,  but  in  the  end 
they  are  sure  to  fail,  and  if  they  fail  they  are  done  with 
forever.  An  honest  man  may  fail  a  hundred  times  and 
yet  he  may  rise  again,  for  his  hands  are  clean  and  his 
conscience  is  not  weighed  down  by  guilt.  Asaph  con- 
tinues : 

"Then  I  went  into  the  sanctuary  of  God  and  I  observed  their 
end. 

"Surely  thou  didst  set  them  in  slippery  places.  Thou  easiest 
them  down  in  destruction. 

"  How  are  they  brought  into  desolation  as  in  a  covenant,  they 
are  utterly  consumed  with  terrors." 

Honesty  is  after  all  the  best  policy  and  he  who 
does  not  believe  it  will  have  to  pay  for  it  dearly  in  his 
life. 

But  let  us  not  go  too  far  in  our  trust  in  honesty  as 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  273 

well  as  in  all  negative  morality.  Honesty  is  not  enough 
to  make  success  in  life  ;  honesty  is  not  as  yet  virtue, 
and  obedience  to  the  several  injunctions  of  the  "thou 
shalt  not  "  conveys  by  no  means  an  indisputable  claim 
to  prosperity.  True  virtue  is  active  not  passive,  it  is 
positive,  not  negative. 

What  is  virtue? 

Morality  as  the  word  is  usually  understood  is  merely 
a  refraining  from  wrong-doing;  it  is  the  avoidance  of 
all  that  which  does  harm  to  our  neighbor,  which  in- 
jures society  or  retards  the  growth  and  evolution  of 
mankind.  However,  morality  in  order  to  be  all  it  can 
be,  ought  to  be  more  ;  it  ought  to  be  virtue,  and  virtue 
is  the  practically  applied  ability  to  do  some  good  work. 
Virtue  is  activity,  it  is  doing  and  achieving.  And 
what  is  the  good  work  which  stamps  activity  as  vir- 
tue ?  Virtuous  is  that  kind  of  work  which  enhances 
the  growth  and  evolution  of.  mankind,  which  helps  so- 
ciety, which  promotes  the  welfare  of  our  neighbors  as 
well  as  of  ourselves. 

Mark !  virtue  is  not  exclusively  altruistic ;  it  is 
not  opposed  to  egotism.  Virtue  may  be  altruistic, 
but  there  are  sometimes  very  egotistic  people  who 
possess  great  virtues.  Their  virtues  may  be  employed 
first  and  even  so  far  their  intentions  go  exclusively  in 
the  service  of  egotism.  Nevertheless,  they  will  de- 
signedly or  undesignedly  enhance  the  progress  of  man- 
kind, and  therefore  we  have  to  consider  their  abilities, 
their  methods  of  action,  their  manners  of  work  as 
virtues. 

There  are  men  of  great  virtue  who  have  conspic- 
uous moral  flaws  and  it  is  not  uncommon  to  judge  of 
great  men  according  to  the  pedantic  morality  of  the 
Sunday  school  ethics.  The  bad  boy  who  plays  truant 


274  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

possesses  sometimes  more  positive  virtue  than  the  good 
boy  who  is  pliable  and  obedient  to  his  teachers.  It  is 
a  narrow  view  of  morality  and  indeed  an  actually 
wrong  ethics  that  cavils  at  the  heroes  of  mankind, 
pointing  out  and  magnifying  their  peccadilloes  in  order 
to  obliterate  and  forget  their  virtues.  Goethe  whose 
greatness  has  often  been  detracted  by  the  smallness 
of  such  dwarfs  as  have  the  impudence  to  speak  in  the 
name  of  morality  said  of  Napoleon,  the  great  con- 
queror and  legislator : 

"  At  last  before  the  good  Lord's  throne 
At  doomsday  stood  Napoleon. 
The  devil  had  much  fault  to  find 
With  him  as  well  as  with  his  kind. 
His  sins  made  up  a  lengthy  list 
And  on  reading  all  did  Satan  insist. 
God  the  Father,  may  be  it  was  God  the  Son, 
Or  even  perhaps  the  Holy  Ghost — 
His  mind  was  not  at  all  composed- 
He  answered  the  Devil  and  thus  began : 
'  I  know  it,  and  don't  you  repeat  it  here ; 
You  speak  like  a  German  Professor,  my  dear. 
Still,  if  you  dare  to  take  him,  well — 
Then,  drag  him  with  you  down  to  hell.'  " 

Lack  of  positive  virtue  is  often  considered  as  moral. 
Lack  of  courage  is  taken  for  peacefulness,  lack  of 
strength  is  taken  for  gentility,  lack  of  activity  is  taken 
for  modesty.  If  moral  people  are  deficient  in  energy 
and  ability,  do  they  not  deserve  to  be  beaten  by  the 
wicked  who  possess  energy  and  ability?  Says  Goethe  in 
a  little  poem  : 

"  The  angels  were  fighting  for  the  right, 
But  they  were  beaten  in  every  fight. 
Everything  went  topsy  turvy 
For  the  devil  was  very  nervy, 
He  took  the  whole  despite  their  prayer 
That  God  might  help  them  in  their  despair. 
Says  Logos,  who  since  eternity 
Had  clearly  seen  that  so  it  must  be, 
'  They  should  not  care  about  being  uncivil 
But  try  to  fight  like  a  real  devil, 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  275 

To  win  the  day,  to  struggle  hard, 

And  do  their  praying  afterward." 

The  maxim  needed  no  repeating 

And  lo  !  the  devil  got  his  beating. 

T'  was  done  and  all  the  angels  were  glad — 

To  be  a  devil  is  not  so  bad." 

Let  us  not  be  pusillanimous  in  ethics.  It  is  pusil- 
lanimity which  produces  squinting  views  of  morality. 
The  morality  of  the  pedant,  the  exhortations  of  the 
Sunday-school  teacher,  and  the  ethics  of  professors 
and  lectures  are  not  always  correct,  and  if  they  are  not 
exactly  incorrect  they  are  often  insufficient  or  merely 
negative.  The  opinion  that  morality  is  no  good  guid- 
ance in  life,  that  honesty  is  not  always  the  best  policy, 
that  the  unscrupulous,  the  deceitful,  the  immoral  have 
a  better  chance  in  the  struggle  for  life  rests  either  on 
an  insufficient  experience  or  an  insufficient  conception 
of  what  ethics  means. 

Let  us  not  be  shaken  in  our  trust  in  truth.  Truth- 
fulness toward  ourselves  and  others  is  the  best  policy, 
it  is  the  only  possible  policy  that  will  stand  for  any 
length  of  time.  Trickery,  misrepresentation,  deceit, 
imply  certain  ruin.  At  the  same  time  let  us  remem- 
ber that  negative  morality  is  not  sufficient,  we  must 
have  or  acquire  positive  virtues.  The  omission  of  sins 
is  not  as  yet  the  fulfilment  of  the  law,  the  ideal  of 
moral  perfection  is  infinitely  greater,  it  consists  in 
building  up  the  future  of  mankind  in  noble  thoughts 
and  energetic  works. 


ARISTOCRATOMANIA. 


ENVY  of  the  rich  is  a  very  common  feeling  among  the 
poor.  And  why  is  it  so  common  ?  Because  the  rich 
are  more  fortunate  in  possessing  wordly  goods  to  sat- 
isfy not  only  their  needs,  but  also  any  unnecessary 
wants.  They  have  the  means  of  procuring  for  them- 
selves whenever  they  please  all  sorts  of  pleasures 
which  because  they  are  expensive  lie  outside  the  reach 
of  the  poor. 

It  is  true  that  the  rich  have  the  means  to  procure 
themselves  pleasures  in  an  extraordinarily  higher  de- 
gree than  the  poor  ;  but  if  the  poor  imagine  that  for 
that  reason  they  actually  enjoy  life  and  life's  pleasures 
better  than  the  poor,  they  are  greatly  mistaken. 

This  is  true  in  several  respects.  First  the  zest  of 
pleasures  is  lost,  if  they  are  procured  without  trouble. 
Pleasure  cannot  be  bought,  pleasure  must  be  felt,  and 
the  capability  of  having  pleasure  depends  upon  sub- 
jective and  not  upon  objective  conditions.  The  man 
who  does  not  work  lessens  his  capability  of  enjoyment 
in  the  same  degree  as  he  ceases  to  be  in  need  of  re- 
creations ;  and  pleasure  which  is  no  recreation  after 
serious  toil,  which  is  not  the  satisfaction  of  a  want, 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  277 

soon  ceases  to  be  a  real  pleasure,  it  becomes  flat,  stale 
and  unprofitable. 

The  rich,  in  order  to  remain  healthy  in  his  spirit, 
in  his  sentiments,  in  his  recreations  and  wants,  must 
live  like  the  poor  man — not  like  those  who  are  wretched 
and  destitute,  but  like  those  who  work  for  a  living. 
The  rich,  be  they  ever  so  rich,  must,  for  the  mere 
sake  of  their  mental  and  moral  health,  continue  to  be 
active,  and  their  activity  must  have  an  aim  and  pur- 
pose, it  must  be  productive  of  some  good,  it  must  be 
work  of  some  kind. 

The  pleasures  of  the  poor  are,  as  a  rule,  richer  and 
deeper  in  color  than  those  of  a  certain  class  of  typ- 
ically rich  people — viz.,  such  rich  people  who  notice- 
ably appear  and  wish  to  appear  as  rich  among  their 
less  fortunate  fellow  creatures  ;  and  the  reason  of  this 
difference  lies  deeper  still  than  in  a  mere  lack  of  exer- 
tion and  wholesome  activity  on  the  part  of  the  rich. 
One  of  the  most  irresistible  temptations  of  the  rich,  it 
appears,  is  their  eagerness  to  be  distinguished  from 
their  fellowmen  as  a  special  class  of  men,  a  peculiar 
and  a  higher  species  of  the  human  kind.  This  is  a 
disease  which  may  be  called  aristocratomania,  and  it 
is  one  of  the  most  deplorable  diseases,  not  uncom- 
monly proving  fatal  to  the  existence  of  noble  and  great 
families. 

Aristocratomania  is  a  disease  which  erects  a  barrier 
between  special  classes  of  men,  not  because  the  one 
is  actually  better,  wiser,  more  moral,  or  nobler  in 
character  than  the  other,  but  because  the  one  can  in- 
dulge in  luxuries  in  which  the  other  cannot. 

The  aristocratomaniac  is  no  aristocrat  in  the  etymo- 
logical and  good  sense  of  the  word.  He  is  not  a  better 
man  than  the  rest  of  mankind  ;  he  is  worse,  he  is  a 


278  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

degeneration.  His  soul  instead  of  being  enlarged  and 
widened  has  shrunk,  and  in  the  measure  as  it  has 
shrunk  it  has  lost  in  human  interest,  sympathy,  and 
love. 

The  aristocratomaniac  is  perhaps  charitable,  he  is 
kind,  but  his  charity  and  his  kindness  appear  offensive 
as  soon  as  they  are  properly  analysed,  for  their  main 
element  is  a  superstitious  condescension. 

The  state  of  aristocratomaniacs  is  ridiculous  and 
pitiable.  It  is  ridiculous  because  of  the  vanity  of  their 
pride ;  it  is  pitiable  because  of  the  shriveled  condition 
of  their  souls.  The  punctilious  observance  of  social 
formalities  has  taken  the  place  of  cordiality  and  truth- 
fulness. The  fashionable  ceremonial  of  society  life 
has  become  the  highest  rule  of  conduct,  but  the  real 
sentiments  which  ought  to  underlie  the  forms  of  social 
intercourse  are  neglected  and  forgotten. 

The  highest  object  of  the  aristocratomaniac  is  to 
burn  incense  before  the  altar  of  his  God — the  Puny 
Self  which  is  fed  with  flattery  and  vanity.  No  emotion 
is  permitted  which  would  conflict  with  this  deity,  for 
great  is  the  Puny  Self  and  he  is  almighty  in  the  soul 
of  the  aristocratomaniac. 

Whenever  the  aristocratomaniac  has  injured  or 
has  given  offense  to  his  fellowman,  the  little  word  : 
"I  beg  your  pardon,"  which  by  natural  impulse  wells 
up  in  a  human  soul,  remains  unspoken  because  the 
great  Puny  Self  sees  in  it  a  humiliation  of  his  majesty. 

Why  is  there  so  little  warmth  in  the  family  life  of 
aristocratomaniacs  ?  Brothers  and  sisters  among  the 
poor  help  one  another,  they  rejoice  at  their  joys  and 
bear  their  woes  in  common.  Does  wealth  produce  a 
chill  in  the  atmosphere  so  as  to  freeze  out  all  cordiality 
and  goodwill  ?  Does  wealth  beget  dissatisfaction, 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  279 

envy,  jealousy,  ill-will  among  men?  Is  the  old  Nibe- 
lungen-saga  true  that  a  curse  rests  on  gold  which  will 
lead  its  owner  to  perdition?  Certainly  it  takes  a  strong 
character  to  be  wealthy  and  to  remain  human,  kind- 
natured  and  broad-minded.  The  dearest  and  most 
sacred  affections  are  too  easily  suffocated  among  the 
thorns  and  thistles  of  worldly  goods.  Proud  of  their 
possession  of  worldly  goods  the  higher  goods  of  truly 
human  feelings  are  lost.  As  the  mother  of  Christ 
said  to  Elizabeth  : 

1 '  God  hath  filled  the  hungry  with  good  things  and  the  rich  he 
hath  sent  empty  away." 

There  are  several  causes  of  aristocratomania,  for 
it  is  a  very  complicated  disease  and  its  symptoms 
show  themselves  in  different  ways,  but  one  cause  ap- 
pears to  be  its  main  source  and  this  one  cause  is  the 
lack  of  solidarity  with  the  interests  of  aspiring,  toiling 
and  progressing  mankind.  That  which  kindles  sym- 
pathies in  the  hearts  of  men  are  common  labor,  com- 
mon sorrows,  common  wants  and  common  hopes. 
There  is  nothing  of  that  between  the  aristocrato- 
maniac  and  his  fellowmen.  He  has  with  other  aris- 
tocratomaniacs  common  joys,  common  fancies  and 
fashions,  common  comforts  and  a  common  pride.  But 
these  feelings  do  not  kindle  sympathies. 

There  is  a  peculiar  and  a  manlike  sympathy  in  the 
dog  who  drags  the  cart  of  his  poor  master  and  earns  a 
living  as  his  help  mate,  sharing  his  master's  labor  and 
bread.  But  there  is  no  such  amiability  in  the  snarling 
pug  who  idles  away  his  time  in  the  lap  of  his  idle 
mistress.  He  is  egotistic,  impertinent  and  dissatis- 
fied. He  has  also  become  infected  with  aristocrato- 
mania, for  dissatisfaction  is  one  of  the  most  telling 


2£o  HOMILIES  OF  SC/EA'CK. 

symptoms  of  the  disease.     Says  Goethe  in  describing 
the  symptoms  of  aristocratomania  : 

"  They  're  of  a  noble  house,  that's  very  rlear 
Haughty  and  discontented  they  appear." 

There  are  among  the  poor  a  class  of  people  who 
either  from  lack  of  strength,  because  the  burdens  of 
life  are  heavier  than  they  can  bear,  or  from  lack  of 
courage  and  good  will,  because  they  do  not  intend  to 
work  for  a  living,  become  spiteful  and  bitter.  This 
disease  is  in  many  respects  similar  to  aristocratomania. 
The  aristocratomaniac  feels  himself  exempt  from  the 
common  lot  of  mortals,  the  spiteful  poor  thinks  that 
he  also  ought  to  be  exempt.  He  has  the  predisposi- 
tion of  becoming  an  aristocratomaniac,  and  being 
hopelessly  shut  out  from  the  class  to  which  his  in- 
stinct leads  him,  he  dreams  of  rising  above  the  crowd 
of  common  mortals  with  the  help  of  the  masses  by 
preaching  hatred  and  destruction.  This  is  the  Marrat 
type  of  the  demagogue,  vanity,  egotism  and  ambition 
are  but  too  often  the  motives  of  him  who  pretends  to 
be  a  reformer,  imitating  Christ  in  his  denunciations 
only  but  not  in  his  charity,  love  and  self-renunciation. 
One  of  the  most  prominent  social  agitators  actually 
exposed  his  main  spring  of  action  in  quoting  Virgil's 
verse : 

"  Flectere  si  nequeo  superos  Acheronta  movebo. 
[Can  I  not  bend  the  Gods,  I'll  stir  the  under  world.] 

Moral  health  cannot  be  found  in  the  aristocrato- 
maniac nor  in  the  would-be  aristocratomaniac,  but  in 
the  patient  and  plodding  worker,  be  he  rich  or  poor. 
He  who  has  risen  in  his  imagination  above  mankind 
and  the  sorrows  of  mankind  has  cut  himself  loose  from 
the  tree  of  humanity.  The  fate  of  aristocratomaniac 
families  as  a  rule  is  sealed.  They  are  doomed.  Life 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  281 

is  activity  and  wherever  life  ceases  to  be  activity,  it 
dries  up  and  withers  away. 

Is  this  perhaps  the  meaning  of  Christ  when  he  said 
that 

"A  rich  man  shall  hardly  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
"It  is  easier  for  a  camel  to  go  through  the  eye  of  a  needle 
than  for  a  rich  man  to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God." 

These  passages  are  strong  and  what  they  teach 
should  not  remain  unheeded.  There  are  two  lessons 
which  they  teach,  one  of  warning  and  the  other  of 
comfort.  The  warning  is  for  the  rich  not  to  erect  a 
barrier  between  themselves  and  humanity,  not  to  al- 
low their  souls  to  be  shriveled  by  wealth  and  pride  of 
class/  for  the  poor,  not  to  be  blinded  by  the  advan- 
tages of  wealth  ;  wealth  is  not  happiness  and  does  not 
convey  happiness.  The  real  contents  of  life,  its  mean- 
ing, its  import  and  its  worth  cannot  be  expressed  in 
dollars  and  cents.  We  have  to  create  the  actual 
values  of  life  ourselves. 

But  there  is  in  Christ's  words  about  the  rich  also 
a  solace.  The  solace  is  for  those  who  live  their  lives 
in  the  sweat  of  their  brows.  Life's  strength  is  labor 
and  sorrow.  Let  us  not  expect  a  different  fate  and 
we  shall  the  more  easily  be  able  to  meet  the  duties  ot 
life  and  to  conform  to  the  unalterable  laws  of  mental 
and  moral  growth. 

Let  us  not  lose  time  with  complaints,  but  let  us  be 
like  Horatio : 

"  As  one,  in  suffering  all  that  suffers  nothing, 
A  man  that  Fortune's  buffets  and  rewards 
Has  ta'en  with  equal  thanks." 

Let  us  preserve  the  elasticity  of  our  minds  and  if  we 
have  to  drudge,  if  we  are  surrounded  with  difficulties 
and  disappointments,  we  shall  bear  them  gladly  and 


282  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

grow  the  stronger  through  their  resistance.  It  is  said 
that  the  palm  tree,  if  weighed  down  by  some  heavy 
stone  grows  the  more  stately  and  the  more  straight 
raising  its  crown  above  all  the  other  trees  which  either 
do  not  experience  any  resistance,  or  if  they  did,  would 
not  have  the  strength  to  overcome  its  pressure. 


SOCIALISM  AND  ANARCHISM. 


SOCIAL  reformers  and  the  enthusiastic  prophets  of 
a  new  mankind  tell  us  that  when  their  dreams  are 
realised  a  radical  change  will  take  place  in  the  nature 
of  man.  The  coming  man  will  lose  all  the  vicious 
features  of  the  present  man  ;  universal  happiness  will 
reign  all  the  world  over  and  humanity  will  become  a 
homogeneous  mass  either  of  independent  sovereigns 
or  of  well  adapted  members  of  society.  The  former 
extreme  is  called  anarchism,  the  latter  socialism  or 
nationalism  ;  and  the  exponents  of  either  view  expect 
from  the  application  of  their  panacea  a  cure  for  all  so- 
cial diseases  and  the  institution  of  a  millennium  upon 
earth. 

How  vain  are  the  endeavors  to  construct  an  ideal 
Utopia  either  of  an  individualistic  or  socialistic  hu- 
manity !  Does  it  not  prove  that  sociology  is  still  in 
its  infancy?  Instead  of  studying  facts,  we  invent  and 
propose  schemes. 

The  mistake  made  by  anarchists  as  well  as  by  so- 
cialists is  that  individualism  and  socialism  are  treated 
as  regulative  principles  while  in  reality  they  are  not 
principles  ;  they  are  the  two  factors  of  society.  Neither 
of  them  can  be  made  its  sole  principle  of  regulation. 
You  might  as  well  propose  to  regulate  gravity  on  earth 


284  HOMILIES  01''  SCIENCE. 

by  making  either  the  centrifugal  or  the  centripetal 
force  the  supreme  and  only  law,  abolishing  the  one 
for  the  benefit  of  the  other. 

Individualism  and  socialism  are  factors  and  cannot 
be  made  principles.  This  means  :  Individualism  is 
the  natural  aspiration  of  every  being  to  be  itself,  it  is 
the  inborn  tendency  of  every  creature  to  grow  and  de- 
velop in  agreement  with  its  own  nature.  We  might 
say  that  this  endeavor  is  right,  but  it  is  more  correct 
to  say  that  it  is  a  fact ;  it  is  natural  and  we  can  as 
little  abolish  it  as  we  can  decree  by  an  act  of  legisla- 
ture that  fire  shall  cease  to  burn  or  that  water  shall 
cease  to  quench  fire.  Socialism  on  the  other  hand  is  a 
fact  also.  "  I  "  am  not  alone  in  the  world  ;  there  are  my 
neighbors  and  my  life  is  intimately  interwoven  with 
their  lives.  My  helpfulness  to  them  and  their  help 
fulness  to  me  constitute  the  properly  human  element 
of  my  soul  and  are  perhaps  ninety-nine  one  hundredths 
of  my  whole  self.  The  more  human  society  progresses, 
the  more  numerous  and  varied  become  the  relations 
among  the  members  of  society,  and  the  truth  dawns 
upon  us  that  no  advantage  accrues  to  an  individual 
by  the  suppression  of  the  individuality  of  his  fellows. 
First  he,  in  so  doing,  never  succeeds  for  good,  and 
secondly  the  mutual  advantage  will  in  the  end  always 
be  greater  to  all  concerned  the  more  the  factor  of  in- 
dividualism in  others  remains  respected.  Human 
society  as  it  naturally  grows  is  the  result  of  both 
factors,  of  individualism  and  of  socialism. 

The  anarchist  proposes  to  make  individualism,  and 
the  nationalist  to  make  socialism  the  main  principle 
of  regulation  for  society.  Are  not  these  one-eyed  re- 
formers utterly  in  the  dark  as  to  the  nature  of  the  so- 
cial problem  ?  The  social  problem  demands  an  inquiry 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  285 

into  the  natural  laws  of  the  social  growth  in  order  to 
do  voluntarily  what  according  to  the  laws  of  nature 
must  after  all  be  the  final  outcome  of  evolution.  By 
consciously  and  methodically  adapting  ourselves  to 
the  laws  of  nature,  we  shall  save  much  waste,  avoid 
great  pains,  and  acquire  the  noble  satisfaction  that  we 
have  built  upon  a  rock  :  and  no  innovation  is  possible 
except  it  be  a  gradual  evolution  from  the  present  state 
and  the  result  of  the  factors  which  are  at  present  active. 

Socialism  and  anarchism  are  the  two  extremes,  and 
all  social  parties  contain  both  principles  in  different 
proportions.  The  republicans  and  the  democrats  rep- 
resent the  same  opposition  of  centripetal  and  centri- 
fugal forces  in  their  politics.  Party  platforms  are  ex- 
ponents of  the  forces  that  manifest  themselves  in  the 
growth  of  society.  They  may  be  either  symptoms  of 
special  diseases  or  indicators  of  a  wholesome  reaction 
against  special  diseases.  A  movement  may  be  needed 
now  in  the  direction  of  anarchism  and  now  in  that  of 
socialism.  We  may  now  want  a  regulation  of  certain 
affairs  in  which  the  public  safety  and  interest  are  con- 
cerned :  for  instance,  in  giving  licenses  to  physicians 
and  druggists,  in  the  supervision  of  banks,  in  rail- 
road matters,  etc.,  etc.;  and  then  again  we  may  want 
a  greater  freedom  from  government  interference.  The 
temporary  needs  as  they  are  more  or  less  felt  will  swell 
the  one  or  the  other  party. 

It  would  be  a  misfortune,  however,  if  one  of  these 
partisan  forces  could  rush  to  the  extreme  and  realise 
the  social  or  anarchical  ideal  before  its  opposite  had 
been  deeply  rooted  at  the  same  time  in  the  hearts  of 
the  people.  Social  institutions  not  based  upon  liberty, 
or  government  interference  to  the  suppression  of  free 
competition,  would  be  exactly  as  insupportable  as  an- 


286  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

archy  among  lawless  people  who  have  no  regard  for 
the  rights  of  others.  But  there  is  no  danger  that  either 
extreme  would  entirely  disappear  to  leave  the  whole 
field  to  the  other  alone.  The  law  of  inertia  holds  good 
in  the  psychical  and  sociological  world  no  less  than  in 
the  physical. 

As  the  present  man  is  the  man  of  the  past  only 
further  developed,  so  the  coming  man  will  be  the 
present  man  only  wiser,  nobler,  purer.  There  is  no 
chance  for  a  radical  change  of  the  nature  of  man  or  of 
the  constitution  of  society.  However  there  is  a  chance 
and  more  than  a  chance,  there  is  a  fully  justified 
hope  and  a  rational  faith  that  man  will  continue  to 
progress.  Nature's  cruel  work  of  incessantly  lopping 
off  the  constantly  new  appearing  vicious  outgrowths 
of  human  life  through  the  survival  of  the  fittest,  and 
by  an  extirpation  of  the  unfit,  will  in  the  future  be 
performed  by  man  himself,  from  the  start,  as  soon  as 
he  has  discovered  the  conditions  under  which  these 
outgrowths  become  impossible. 

Human  society  will  in  the  future  be  more  anar- 
chistic in  the  same  measure  as  it  will  be  more  social- 
istic. Not  that  socialistic  institutions  or  laws  will 
through  an  external  pressure  abolish  competition  and 
impose  upon  the  individual  more  socialistic  relations  ; 
nor  that  the  abolition  of  laws  will  restrict  government 
interference  so  as  to  give  more  elbow-room  to  individ- 
ual liberty.  Individual  liberty  will  increase  at  the 
same  ratio  as  the  social  instincts  of  mutual  justice 
will  become  more  than  at  present  a  part  of  every  in- 
dividual man.  This  has  been  the  law  of  social  pro- 
gress in  the  past,  it  has  made  the  republican  institu- 
tions of  the  present  possible  and  this  law  will  hold 
good  for  the  future  also.  Anarchism  could  be  real- 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  287 

ised  only  where  the  laws  of  justice  were  inscribed  in 
the  hearts  of  all  men,  so  that  every  man  were  a  law 
unto  himself;  and  perfect  socialism  can  be  realised 
only  where  every  individual's  greatest  joy  consisted 
in  the  ambition  to  serve  the  community.  The  former 
would  be  a  state  of  altruistic  individualists  and  the 
latter  one  of  individualistic  altruists.  Both  states  are 
ideals  and  both  are  represented  by  more  or  less  con- 
sistent parties  which  for  the  attainment  of  the  same 
aim  propose  opposite  means.  These  parties  are 
exponents  of  certain  forces  that  manifest  themselves 
in  the  growth  of  society.  It  is  well  to  understand 
both  ideals  and  to  sympathise  with  both,  although  the 
one  as  much  as  the  other  may  be  equally  impossible, 
for  evolution  is  a  constant  and  a  simultaneous  approx- 
mation  to  both  ideals. 


LOOKING  FORWARD. 


HUMAN  progress  depends  upon  the  dreams  of  en- 
thusiasts. The  inventor,  the  discoverer,  and  the 
reformer  are  dreamers,  who  prophet-like  see  in  their 
imagination  things  that  other  mortals  know  not  of. 
Every  one  of  such  men  might  very  well  say  :  ''I  had 
a  dream  which  was  not  all  a  dream."  Their  dreams 
become  realities  and  many  such  dreams  are  common- 
place facts  to  us  now.  Indeed  civilization  consists 
of  such  realized  dreams.  How  useful  are  these 
dreams  ! 

We  call  dreams  which  are  not  all  dreams,  ideals. 
Why  is  not  every  dream  as  useful  as  a  genuine  ideal  ? 
Because  the  stuff  of  which  the  ideal  is  made — I  mean 
the  genuine  ideal  only — is  taken  from  the  actual  state 
of  things  as  they  exist  in  reality,  and  handled  accord- 
ing to  the  laws  of  nature. 

James  Watt  took  iron  and  steel  and  steam,  and 
made  them  act  according  to  their  nature.  He  com- 
bined certain  realities.  He  applied  natural  laws,  and 
lo  !  the  combination  of  his  thoughts  revolutionized  the 
world,  and  lifted  all  humanity  upon  a  higher  level  than 
it  had  occupied  before.  The  genuine  ideal  is  a  dream 
that  genius  shapes  out  of  reality. 

We  have  become  reverent  toward  the  dreamer 
because  of  the  usefulness  of  certain  dreams.  Dream- 
ers, it  appears,  command  our  respect  even  if  they 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  289 

are  but  dreamers.  A  certain  man  once  learned  at 
school  that  our  atmosphere  exercises  a  constant  pres- 
sure of  fourteen  pounds  upon  every  square  inch  of  our 
body — constituting  a  total  pressure  of  about  forty 
hundred-weights  upon  the  surface  of  the  skin  of  an 
average  adult  person.  This  man  had  a  dream  that  he 
lived  upon  a  planet  without  an  atmosphere.  People 
felt  so  free  and  easy,  in  the  absence  of  all  pressure, 
that  they  moved  about  like  winged  angels.  He  told 
his  dream  to  his  neighbors,  he  wrote  it  down  and  pub- 
lished it,  and  it  is  the  one  hundred  and  ninety-first 
or  second  edition  that  is  now  being  sold.  Humanity 
builds  altars  to  the  dreamer,  because  he  is  a  dreamer; 
he  had  a  vision. 

Every  man  that  works  for  the  progress  of  the 
human  race  has  and  ought  to  have  our.  sincerest  sym- 
pathy. We,  all  of  us,  should  know  that  society  in 
many  respects, — perhaps  in  most  respects, — is  not 
what  it  ought  to  be.  We  have  abolished  slavery,  but 
the  laborer  is  not  as  yet  the  free,  and  independent,  and 
intelligent«man  he  ought  to  be  ;  not  as  yet  is  the  em- 
ployer the  humane,  and  intelligent,  and  well  educated 
man  he  ought  to  be.  The  people  perish  from  want 
of  knowledge  ;  it  is  knowledge  that  will  make  the 
laborer  free,  it  is  knowledge  that  will  make  the  em- 
ployer humane.  Knowledge,  if  it  is  knowledge  at  all, 
means  an  acquaintance  with  facts  as  they  really  are, 
with  natural  laws  and  sociological  laws,  which  latter 
are  just  as  much  laws  of  nature  as  gravitation  or  other 
natural  laws  are.  And  it  is  truth  only  that  can  make 
us  free. 

There  comes  a  dreamer  who  flatly  proposes  to 
abolish  the  law  of  gravitation.  He  explains  in  a 
marvelously  lucid  sketch  that  every  man  who  falls  and 


2tjo  HOMILIES  or  SCIENCE. 

breaks  his  leg,  falls  only  because  of  the  law  of  gravi- 
tation. Things  are  heavy  because  matter  gravitates 
toward  the  centre  of  the  earth.  All  the  troubles 
of  transportation  are  inconveniences  due  to  gravity. 
There  is  no  misfortune  or  annoyance  that  has  not  its 
root  in  this  vilest  of  all  natural  institutions — gravity. 
Come  therefore  and  let  us  abolish  gravitation  ! 

A  dreamer  like  that  is  called  an  idealist,  and  great 
respect  is  paid  him  by  the  unkowing  many.  It  is  diffi- 
cult to  state  whether  such  a  dreamer,  and  all  those  in- 
fatuated by  his  dream,  are  to  be  envied  or  to  be  pitied 
for  their  illusions. 

Mr.  Bellamy  depicts  a  state  of  society  where  there 
is  no  competition.  Competition  is  the  struggle  for 
life  among  peaceful  human  beings.  It  is  the  struggle 
for  life  that  created  man  and  human  society  and  all 
progress  of  the  human  race.  But  then  there  is  much 
misery  that  arises  from  the  struggle  for  life.  The 
lesson  that  life  teaches  is,  in  my  opinion,  the  admo- 
nition to  make  the  struggle  for  life  more  humane.  Let 
us  therefore  educate  the  growing  generation  better 
than  the  former  generations,  let  us  adapt  ourselves 
to  nature,  let  us  break  down  artificial  barriers  be- 
tween man  and  man,  that  the  struggle  for  life  may 
become  a  fair  and  honest  fight  for  progress,  that 
our  competition  may  be  an  honest  endeavor  to  do 
better  and  more  useful  work.  Let  us  be  fair  to  our 
enemies  and  to  our  competitors,  and  we  shall  soon 
find  out,  that  the  abler  they  are,  the  stronger  and 
fiercer  their  competition  is,  the  better  it  will  be  for  us. 
They  help  us  to  progress,  they  force  us  to  progress, 
however  much  worry  they  cause,  we  would  certainly 
not  be  better  off  without  them. 

Why  should  the  relation  between  employer  and 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  291 

employee  be  that  of  a  master  to  his  slave  ?  It  is 
partly  now,  and  let  us  hope  that  in  the  future  it  will 
always  be,  looked  upon  as  the  co  operation  of  a  worker 
with  his  co-workers,  in  which  the  one  bears  the  main 
risk  and  will  get  a  proportionate  share  of  the  profits, 
if  there  are  any,  while  the  others  earn  their  fixed 
wages.  Why  should  we  abolish  the  principle  of  free 
enterprise,  which  encourages  thrift,  and  progress,  and 
invention,  because  there  are  some  imperfections  in  its 
application  ? 

In  certain  branches  co-operation  may,  and  I  believe 
it  will,  become  more  practical  than  it  is  to-day.  Such 
co-operation  will  in  each  case  have  to  be  based  upon  the 
freewill  and  assent  of  every  independent  individual,  but 
it  cannot — even  not  by  the  vote  of  a  majority — be  im- 
posed upon  the  whole  nation.  And  if  it  could,  it 
would  not  work.  It  would  change  all  trades  into  in- 
dustrial armies  and  a  few  bosses  would  have  to  run 
and  regulate  the  whole  co-operative  business  of  the 
nation.  It  would  transform  our  present  life  of  free  en- 
terprise and  competition  into  an  enormous  peniten- 
tiary, only  very  humanely  instituted — supposing  that 
all  convicts  would  willingly  submit  to  the  rules  of  the 
institute.  The  imperial  army  as  well  as  the  imperial 
post  office  and  railroad  service  of  Germany  are  a  par- 
tial realization  of  Nationalism. 

We  want  more  chances  for  labor,  more  elbow-room 
for  the  courageous,  especially  for  the  poor.  It  is  true, 
we  demand  that  the  license  of  the  unprincipled  be 
checked,  but  we  do  not  want  the  liberty  of  anybody 
to  be  curtailed,  be  he  a  millionaire  or  an  unskilled 
navvy. 

Mr.  Bellamy  proposes  to  abolish  the  struggle  for 
life.  He  has  told  us  in  his  little  book  all  the  advan- 


292  IIOM1  I.IKS  Or  SCIENC1.. 

tages  of  the  scheme,  and  they  are  many.  We  can  dis- 
pense with  all  the  tedious  inventions  of  civilization ; 
we  need  no  more  private  property,  no  money,  no  re- 
wards for  industry.  But  with  the  evils  of  competition, — 
which  has  produced  our  civilization, — we  shall  abolish 
the  most  divine  blessings  :  human  freedom,  indepen- 
dence, responsibility,  and  above  all  self-reliance. 

We  are  confident  that  "  the  present  order  may  be 
replaced  by  one  distinctly  nobler  and  more  humane." 
But  the  new  order  of  things  cannot  be  established  by 
the  proposed  panacea  of  Nationalism  and  the  abolition 
of  competition.  The  new  order  must  grow  and 
evolve  out  of  the  present  state  of  things,  not  other- 
wise than  our  present  civilization  developed  out  of 
savagery.  In  the  new  order  of  things  we  hope  all  un- 
necessary struggle  will  be  avoided  ;  we  shall  have  less 
waste  and  a  minimum  of  friction  ;  yet  the  law  of  com- 
petition will  remain  in  a  future  and  better  state  of  so- 
ciety just  as  powerful  as  it  ever  was  since  time  im- 
memorial and  as  it  is  to-day. 

Nature  has  not  designed  man  to  live  for  the  mere 
enjoyment  of  life.  Nature  under  penalty  of  degenera- 
tion sternly  demands  and  enforces  a  constant  pro- 
gress through  struggle  and  work  and  sacrifice.  And 
those  who  devote  themselves  to  the  pursuit  of  happi- 
ness, will  soon  find  that  they  are  following  an  ignis 
fatuus  that  leads  them  astray  into  the  imperviable 
marshes  of  perdition.  If  a  social  reformer  promises  a 
millennium  of  happiness,  be  on  your  guard,  for  in 
that  case  he  is  misleading  you.  Look  at  his  schemes 
with  a  critical  mind  and  you  will  see  that  his  Utopia 
is  a  fool's  paradise. 

Mr.  Bellamy's  book  and  its  popularity  is  one  of  the 
most  ominous  symptoms  of  our  time.  It  is  an  outcry 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  293 

for  the  satisfaction  of  material  wants  and  for  pleas- 
ures ;  a  hunger  for  panem  et  circenses  to  be  provided 
by  the  government,  by  the  nation.  The  average  cit- 
izens of  Rome  during  the  Punic  wars  were  by  no  means 
rich,  but  they  possessed  an  indomitable  love  of  inde- 
pendence, and  the  Republic  at  that  time  rested  upon 
a  sound  foundation.  But  when  the  Romans  cried 
for  panem  et  circenses,  Liberty  died  and  Caesar  ap- 
peared. Caesar  gave  them  panem  et  circenses,  and  the 
price  they  had  to  pay  for  the  trouble  he  took,  is  known 
in  history.  The  people  who  want  to  be  taken  care  of 
and  catered  to  with  bread  and  pleasures,  have  for- 
feited their  claim  to  freedom. 

"Looking  Backward"  proposes  to  abolish  the 
social  law  of  gravitation  which  indeed  causes  many 
troubles  in  life  but  which  at  the  same  time  produced 
and  still  produces  our  civilization.  Thus  the  book  is 
truly  a  looking  backward  to  the  primeval  state  of  bar- 
barism. 

Let  us  cease  to  dream  the  useless  dreams  of  abol- 
ishing the  laws  of  nature.  Let  us  rather  abolish  the 
artificial  barriers  between  the  so-called  higher  and 
lower  classes.  Give  the  poorest  a  chance  to  acquire 
as  good  an  education  as  the  richest  command.  Fa- 
cilitate the  opportunities  of  labor  so  that  the  indus- 
trious need  not  go  begging  for  work.  Thus  we  shall 
break  down  the  hindrances  that  prevent  progress,  and 
in  adapting  ourselves  to  the  laws  of  nature  we  shall 
better  be  prepared  for  a  true  and  useful  Looking 
Forward. 


WOMAN  EMANCIPATION. 


ONE  of  the  most  important  and  at  the  same  time 
noblest  of  our  present  ideals  is  the  emancipation  of 
woman.  Woman  is  the  weaker  sex,  because  nature 
has  destined  her  strength  to  be  sacrificed  for  the  per- 
petuation of  the  race.  Woman  represents  the  future 
of  humanity  ;  the  immortality  of  mankind  is  entrusted 
to  her.  The  burdens  of  life  are  upon  the  whole  so  di- 
vided that  man  must  struggle  with  the  adversities  of 
conditions,  while  woman  must  suffer  all  the  throes 
and  woes  which  are  the  price  of  the  continuance  of 
human  existence.  He  is  the  more  active  fighter,  the 
worker,  the  hero;  she  is  the  passive  endurer,  the  toiler, 
the  martyr.  He  has  under  these  conditions  grown 
strong,  physically  and.  intellectually ;  she  has  grown 
noble.  The  activity  of  each  being  shapes  its  organ- 
ism and  models  its  character.  Thus  the  virtues  of 
man  became  daring  courage,  concentration  of  thought, 
and  enterprising  energy  ;  the  virtues  of  woman  be- 
came abnegation  of  self,  patience,  and  purity  of 
heart. 

Woman,  being  the  weaker  sex,  has  been  and  to  a 
great  extent  is  still  held  in  subjection  to  the  power 
and  jurisdiction  of  the  stronger  sex.  It  is  true  that 
among  cultured  people  the  rudeness  of  this  relation, 
has  disappeared.  The  husband  has  ceased  to  be  the 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  295 

tyrant  of  the  household.  He  respects  the  indepen- 
dence of  his  wife  and  prefers  to  have  in  her  a  loving 
comrade  rather  than  a  pliant  slave.  Nevertheless 
progress  is  slow.  It  is  perhaps  not  so  much  oppres- 
sion by  single  persons  as  by  traditional  habits  that  is 
still  weighing  heavily  upon  woman,  retarding  the  final 
emancipation  of  her  sex. 

Prof.  E.  D.  Cope  has  written  an  article  on  the 
economical  relation  between  the  sexes  *  in  which  he 
emphasises  woman's  dependence  on  the  support  and 
protection  of  man.  Professor  Cope  explains  satisfac- 
torily the  present  state  of  society,  but  he  leaves  out  of 
sight  the  question  whether  this  present  state  has  to 
continue  forever.  His  article  is  a  scholarly  investiga- 
tion of  existent  conditions,  but  he  does  not  touch  the 
problem  whether  this  is  the  only  possible  natural  state 
or  a  special  phase  in  the  development  of  human  sex- 
relations.  We  believe  that  the  present  phase  is  to  be 
followed  by  another  phase  securing  to  woman  a  better, 
nobler,  and  more  dignified  position. 

It  may  be  conceded,  as  a  matter  of  historical  state- 
ment, that  in  the  struggle  for  life  women  had  to  de- 
pend upon  men  for  protection  and  sustenance.  Yet  it 
must  not  be  forgotten  that  men  in  their  turn  also  had 
to  depend  upon  women.  What  are  men  without 
mothers  and  wives  ?  How  helpless  is  an  old  widower, 
and  in  spite  of  his  so-called  liberty  how  poor  is  the 
life  of  an  old  bachelor. 

Professor  Cope  does  not  overlooK  this  point,  yet 
he  maintains  that  women  as  a  rule  cannot  make  a  liv- 
ing ;  he  maintains  that  whenever  they  do,  it  is  an  ex- 
ception and  this  is  the  reason  why  they  must  look 
for  sustenance  and  protection  from  the  stronger  sex. 

*  The  Monist,  No.  i,  p.  38. 


296  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

Granted  that  this  has  been  so  ;  also  granted  that  many 
women  had  to  marry  for  this  sole  reason,  must  we 
therefore  conclude  that  this  wretched  state  of  things 
is  to  continue  forever?  It  may  be  true  that  there  was 
a  time  when  serfdom  was  an  unavoidable  state  for  a 
certain  class  of  people  who  in  a  state  of  liberty  would 
not  make  a  decent  living  for  themselves;  slavery  per- 
haps was  a  greater  blessing  to  them  than  to  their  mas- 
ters. Would  that  be  a  reason  for  continuing  slavery 
in  a  higher  state  of  social  conditions  ? 

The  woman  question  has  originated  through  the 
very  progress  of  civilisation.  In  order  to  make  a  liv- 
ing a  human  being  has  no  longer  to  depend  upon 
physical  strength,  but  mostly  upon  mental  capacities, 
nay,  more  so  upon  moral  qualities.  Sense  of  duty  is 
more  important  than  muscle  power,  and  sometimes 
even  than  skill.  The  time  has  come  that  at  least  in 
many  branches  a  well  educated  woman  can  do  the 
same  work  as  a  man,  and  she  is  no  more  dependent 
upon  man  for  sustenance  and  protection. 

This  fact  will  not  alter  the  natural  relation  of  sex. 
Our  women  will  not  cease  to  marry,  to  bear  and  to 
raise  children.  Yet  it  will  alter  their  position  in  this 
relation.  They  will  no  longer  marry  for  the  mere  sake 
of  protection,  but  for  love  alone.  They  will  then  enter 
marriage  on  equal  terms;  and  thus  they  will  obtain  a 
more  dignified  place  in  human  society. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  woman  is  different  from 
man.  The  average  man  is  superior  in  some  respects, 
and  the  average  woman  is  superior  in  other  respects. 
Neither  man  nor  woman  is  the  perfect  man.  True 
humanity  is  not  represented  by  either.  True  humanity 
consists  in  their  union,  and  in  the  consequences  of  their 
union,  namely  in  the  family. 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  297 

Woman's  emancipation  does  not  involve  any  de- 
traction from  man's  rights  or  duties.  Man  will  not 
suffer  from  it,  on  the  contrary,  he  will  profit.  It  will 
raise  our  family  life  upon  a  higher  stage  and  man  will 
be  as  much  a  gainer  in  this  bargain  as  the  slave-holder 
who  can  employ  free  labor  easier  and  cheaper  than 
keep  slaves.  As  no  one  would  wish  to  re-establish 
slavery  now,  so  in  a  later  period  no  man  would  ever 
care  to  have  the  old  state  recalled  when  women  mar- 
ried mainly  for  the  sake  of  sustenance  and  protection. 

Let  me  add  that  woman  emancipation  is  slowly 
but  assuredly  accomplished,  not  by  acts  of  legislature, 
but  by  a  natural  growth  which  no  conservatism  can 
stop.  Acts  of  legislature  giving  more  liberty  and 
chances  of  making  a  living  to  woman,  will  not  be  the 
cause,  they  will  .come  in  consequence  of  a  true  woman 
emancipation.  There  are  many  steps  taken  in  a  wrong 
direction.  Efforts  are  wasted  especially  by  some  over- 
enthusiastic  women  in  making  women  like  men,  in- 
stead of  making  men  and  women  equal.  These  erro- 
neous aspirations  are  injurious  to  the  cause,  yet  after 
all  they  cannot  ruin  it.  There  is  an  ideal  of  a  higher, 
more  elevated  and  a  better  womanhood,  and  this  ideal 
(although  it  is  often  misunderstood)  will  be  accom- 
plished without  the  destruction  of  the  womanly  in 
woman. 


DO  WE  WANT  A  REVOLUTION? 


"  Do  WE  want  a  Revolution  ?  "  is  the  subject  of  an 
article  by  Mr.  Morrison  I.  Swift  which  appeared  in 
No.  1 66  of  The  Open  Court.  The  question  is  answered 
in  the  affirmative ;  Mr.  Swift  declares  :  We  want  a 
revolution. 

Mr.  Morrison  I.  Swift  is  a  young  man  and  full  of 
earnest  enthusiasm  for  social  justice  and  the  elevation 
of  the  poor.  He  makes  himself  the  attorney  of  the 
oppressed  and  hurls  his  shafts  of  indignation  against 
the  oppressors.  He  appears  as  the  prophet  of  revolu- 
tionary reform,  indicting  a  number  of  rich  men,  "be- 
cause," he  says,  "they  make  our  lives  hard  and 
dull." 

Their  crime,  he  declares,  consists  in  being  "willing 
in  the  present  hour  of  enlightenment  to  accept  the 
colossal  advantages  their  place  in  an  irrational  system 
gives  them,  to  use  these  perfectly  prodigious  powers 
selfishly."  Not  the  slightest  proof  is  adduced  for  this 
wholesale  indictment.  The  indiscrimination  in  his  col- 
lection of  several  well  known  names  proves  that  Mr. 
Swift  does  not  clearly  know  himself  what  they  are 
guilty  of.  Are  they  arraigned  for  selfishness  ?  Some 
of  them  are  very  active  for  the  public  good.  Are  they 


HOMIC-IES  OF  SCIENCE.  299 

arraigned  for  possessing  wealth  ?  While  none  among 
them  is  poor,  not  every  one  of  them  is  so  extraordinary 
rich  as  Mr.  Swift  seems  to  imagine.  Nor  does  the 
plaintiff  indicate  what  these  criminals  ought  to  do  in 
order  to  escape  the  condemnation  of  selfishness.  Per- 
haps he  would  repeat  the  demand  of  Christ :  "  Go  and 
sell  all  that  thou  hast  and  give  to  the  poor  and  thou 
shalt  have  treasure  in  heaven  ?  " 

Plaintiff  is  a  philanthropist  and  he  kindly  urges  in 
extenuation  that  the  rich  are  "victims  of  the  system 
like  the  rest,  victims  of  a  sorry  state  of  human  nature. " 
The  personal  indictment  of  these  men  seems  to  rest 
on  the  fact  that  they  do  not  use  their  power  to  over- 
throw the  social  order.  And  this  appears  to  Mr.  Swift 
as  the  one  thing  that  is  needed.  Having  realised  that 
there  are  iniquities  and  sufferings  he  is  determined  to 
promote  revolution,  because  "life  would  be  dishonor- 
able on  any  other  terms." 

Mr.  Swift  undoubtedly  hopes  for  a  better  system, 
which  he  supposes  will  come  after  the  breakdown  of 
the  present  system.  He  may  be  a  nationalist  or  an 
anarchist,  I  do  not  know  ;  and  it  matters  little.  Yet 
it  is  certain  that  rash  youth  only  can  so  wantonly,  al- 
though with  best  and  purest  motives,  clamor  for  a 
revolution.  Putting  the  question  to  himself  whether 
or  not  we  must  be  revolutionists,  Mr.  Swift  declares 
"it  is  easy  to  make  his  choice." 

Does  Mr.  Swift  know  what  a  revolution  is  ?  A  rev- 
olution is  a  breakdown  of  society.  It  is  not  a  building 
up,  it  is  a  tearing  down.  If  is  not  evolution,  but  it  is 
dissolution. 

A  revolution  is  a  great  public  calamity  which  falls 
equally  heavy  on  the  rich  and  on  the  poor.  Perhaps 
it  falls  heavier  upon  the  poor,  because  as  a  rule  they 


3oo  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

have  less  education  and  are  ignorant  of  the  course  of 
events.  The  facts  of  the  French  revolution  speak  loud 
enough.  Are  they  now  forgotten  ?  To  every  rich  man 
who  was  guillotined  hundreds  of  poor  met  with  the 
same  fate,  and  thousands  were  actually  starved  to 
death. 

A  revolution  is  like  a  deluge  that,  the  dam  being 
broken,  sweeps  over  a  valley.  The  deluge  will  drown 
the  rich  as  well  as  the  poor.  It  will  often  happen  that 
a  rich  man  may  be  drowned  as  well  as  a  poor  man  ;  but 
after  all,  the  rich  man  if  he  be  warned  in  time,  has 
better  chances  to  escape. 

Who  will  profit  by  revolutions?  Not  the  laborer, 
he  will  be  starved  ;  not  the  employer  of  labor,  he  will 
be  ruined.  There  is  one  class  of  men  that  will  profit. 
It  is  the  sharper  ;  he  whose  business  flourishes  while 
and  because  all  the  world  is  covered  with  misfortune. 
There  are  people  who  undertake  to  fish  in  muddy  wa- 
ters. These  people  are  the  only  ones  that  are  bene- 
fited by  public  disturbances,  calamities,  and  revolu- 
tions. 

Several  months  ago  I  discussed  the  eventuality  of 
a  revolution  with  a  leading  anarchist  of  Chicago.  I 
do  by  no  means  agree  with  anarchism  ;  nor  did  this 
anarchist  agree  with  my  views,  but  he  most  emphat- 
ically joined  me  in  denouncing  the  superstition  so  pre- 
valent among  many  would-be  reformers,  that  revolu- 
tion can  bring  any  salvation  to  society.  He  said, 
"When  I  was  young  and  rash,  I  believed  in  revolution 
and  hoped  for  a  revolution ;  I  thought  to  arrive  at  a 
higher  state  of  society  by  a  bee  line  road.  But  since 
I  have  seen  more  of  life,  I  have  ceased  to  believe  in 
physical  force.  I  then  believed  that  society  could  be 
pulled  up  by  the  roots  and  pitched  over  the  fence,  and 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  301 

a  new  social  machine,  contrary  to  that  which  is,  put 
in  its  place.  I  now  see,  that  society  is  a  slow  growth, 
and  the  best  we  can  do  is  to  remove  those  special 
privileges,  empowering  the  few  to  rob  the  many.  Rev- 
olution, it  is  true,  cannot  be  condemned  under  any 
and  all  circumstances.  Revolution  is,  like  war,  always 
an  evil,  but  in  exceptional  cases,  it  may  happen  to  be 
the  lesser  evil.  Revolution  becomes  necessary  as  soon 
as  evolution  has  become  an  absolute  necessity.  Yet 
even  then  its  necessity  must  be  deplored,  because  all 
violence,  bloodshed,  and  wars  debase  the  higher  sen- 
timents of  the  race,  and  destroy  the  sanctity  of  human 
life  ;  the  progress  which  comes  through  peace,  though 
slow  it  be,  is  the  most  certain  and  enduring." 

There  is  but  one  way  of  improving  the  condition  of 
the  laboring  classes  ;  that  is  by  evolution.  We  must 
enforce  a  better  position  of  the  workers  by  legal  means, 
not  with  the  bullet,  but  with  the  ballot.  The  road  is 
slower,  but  it  leads  by  and  by  to  the  desired  aim. 

The  bee  line  road  of  revolution  will  not  bring  us 
nearer  to  a  realisation  of  our  ideals.  In  order  to  reach 
a  better  state  of  society  by  the  slow  process  of  evolu- 
tion, we  must  educate  mankind  up  to  it,  we  must  teach 
them  a  higher  morality  and  a  respect  for  law. 

What  a  terrible  error  it  is  to  preach  justice  and 
recommend  the  overthrow  not  of  this  or  that  law  only, 
but  of  all  laws  and  of  the  whole  order  of  society. 

Society  is  not  an  artificial  system  that  can  be  con- 
structed with  arbitrariness.  Society  is  an  organism 
and  the  laws  of  its  development  are  similar  to  those  of 
living  creatures,  of  plants  and  of  animals.  You  can 
promote  the  growth  of  a  tree,  by  digging  round  its 
stem,  by  watering  the  roots  and  pruning  the  dead 
branches  in  its  crown,  nay,  you  may  inoculate  a  tree 


3o2  HOMILIES  Or  SCIENCE. 

so  that  indeed  the  thorns  may  be  made  to  bear  figs  or 
grapes.  But  if  you  pull  out  the  whole  tree,  you  will 
have  to  begin  quite  anew,  and  it  will  take  a  long  while 
until  it  has  reached  that  state  again  in  which  it  is  now. 

Incendiary  speeches  are  cheap  means  for  agitators 
to  become  popular  with  the  uneducated  among  our 
laboring  classes.  Yet  I  hope  to  see  the  time  when 
our  laborers  will  hoot  at  the  demagogue  who  attempts 
to  excite  them  with  preaching  hatred  and  ill  will. 

Yet  the  incendiary  speeches  of  demagogues  should 
not  be  ignored  by  the  rich.  We  should  recommend 
them  to  the  rich  for  a  careful  perusal.  There  is  cer- 
tainly something  wrong  in  a  state  of  society  in  which 
young  men,  enthusiastic  for  justice,  openly  clamor  for 
a  revolution. 

We  advise  the  rich  as  well  as  the  poor  to  weigh 
carefully  Mr.  Swift's  proposition,  not  because  we  agree 
with  him  in  the  justice  of  a  revolution,  or  in  the  ad- 
visability of  preparing  and  preaching  a  revolution  ;  on 
the  contrary,  because  we  should  consider  a  revolution 
as  the  greatest  public  calamity,  the  evil  consequences 
of  which  cannot  be  all  foreseen.  The  probability,  ir 
my  mind,  is  that  the  final  result  of  a  great  revolution 
in  the  United  States,  would  be  the  downfall  of  the 
republic  and  the  establishment  of  an  empire.  A  revo- 
lution, so  far  as  I  can  see,  will  bring  us  no  liberty  but 
serfdom. 

It  is  a  law  of  nature  that  if  a  nation  cannot  govern 
itself,  a  usurper  will  keep  order  in  that  nation,  and 
every  revolution  in  a  republic  is  a  sign  that  the  citi- 
zens are  not  able  in  a  peaceful  way  to  administer  their 
public  affairs. 

The  rich  therefore,  should  heed  the  cry  of  alarm. 
They  should  consider  that  a  revolution  becomes  an  in- 


HOMILIES  OF  SCfENCK.  303 

evitable  necessity  as  soon  as  the  discontent  of  the  poor 
in  a  country  has  reached  a  certain  height  at  which 
their  yoke  appears  to  them  unbearable. 

Our  society  is  by  no  means  free  from  grievances, 
although  they  have  not  yet  reached  their  fill.  We 
should  beware  of  the  very  beginning  and  mind  all  the 
symptoms  of  dissatisfaction.  The  greater  the  patience 
of  the  oppressed  proves  to  be,  the  more  formidable 
will  be  the  outbreak  of  their  indignation. 

It  is  not  good  to  build  barriers  between  man  and 
man;  as  says  the  prophet  Jeremiah:  "Let  not  the 
wise  man  glory  in  his  wisdom  ;  neither  let  the  mighty 
man  glory  in  his  might ;  let  not  the  rich  man  glory  in 
his  riches."  And  the  apostle  Paul  writes  to  Timothy  : 
"Charge  them  that  are  rich  in  this  world,  that  they 
be  not  high-minded  nor  trust  in  uncertain  riches." 

The  duties  of  those  that  have  great  possessions  are 
greater  than  the  duties  of  the  poor.  The  more  power 
a  man  has,  the  more  imperative  is  his  obligation  to 
be  just  in  all  his  dealing  with  his  neighbors.  The 
citizens  of  a  republic  should  not  attempt  to  make  a 
caste  of  wealth  ;  and  ought  to  abhor  all  oppression  of 
the  poor.  The  employer  must  show  his  own  inde- 
pendence and  his  sense  of  independence  by  respecting 
the  independence  of  his  employees.  When  weighing 
the  worth  of  a  man,  let  us  not  consider  the  amount  of 
his  property  but  the  manliness  and  honesty  of  his 
character. 

Is  there  any  sense  in  admiring  the  aristocratic 
habits  which  have  become  fashionable  with  so  many 
of  our  wealthy  families  ?  Let  us  exercise,  ourselves, 
and  teach  our  children  to  exercise,  simplicity.  Let  us 
honor  the  democratic  principles  which  so  well  become 
the  citizens  of  a  republic,  and  the  mere  idea  of  a  rev- 


304  HOMILIE  S'  OF  SCIENCE. 

olution  will  become  a  ridiculous  bugbear.   Says  Robert 
Burns  : 

"  Then  let  us  pray  that  come  it  may, — 
As  come  it  will  for  a'  that, — 
That  sense  and  worth,  o'er  a'  the  earth, 
May  bear  the  gree,  and  a'  that. 
For  a'  that,  and  a'  that, 
Its  coming  yet  for  a'  that, — 
When  man  to  man  the  warld1  o'er, 
Shall  brothers  be  for  a'  that." 


THE  AMERICAN  IDEAL* 


THE  United  States  of  North  America  is  a  nation 
without  a  name.  Poets  hail  our  country  Columbia, 
and  Europeans  call  us  simply  Americans.  Yet  these 
appellations  are  not,  properly  speaking,  names.  At- 
tempts have  been  made  to  provide  the  nation  with 
a  name,  yet  so  far  all  the  attempts  have  proved 
failures. 

We  need  not  care  about  a  name.  When  we  need  a 
name,  it  will  be  given  us.  Much  more  difficult  would 
it  be  to  give  ideals  to  a  nation ;  yet  luckily,  although 
we  are  a  nation  without  a  name,  we  are  not  a  nation 
without  ideals. 

We  have  high  and  great  ideals,  although  they  are 
neglected  and  forgotten  by  many  ;  and  some  of  our 
most  influential  politicians  treacherously  trample  them 
under  foot.  We  can  say  without  boasting  that  our 
ideals  are  the  noblest,  the  broadest,  the  loftiest  of 
any  in  the  world. 

Our  ideals  are  sublime  because  they  are  human- 
itarian, and  thus  this  great  republic  of  the  West  has 
become  a  bulwark  against  the  evil  powers  of  inherited 
errors  and  false  conservatism.  So  long  as  it  shall  re- 

*  This  article  first  appeared  in  America,  of  Chicago. 


306  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

main  faithful  to  the  principles  upon  which  its  consti- 
tution is  founded,  this  republic  will  be  a  promise  and 
a  hope  for  the  progress  of  mankind. 

There  is  a  prejudice  in  Europe  against  the  ideals 
of  America.  It  is  fashionable  in  the  old  countries  to 
represent  Europe  as  the  continent  of  ideal  aspirations 
while  America  is  described  as  the  land  where  the 
dollar  is  almighty.  Germans  most  of  all  are  apt  to 
praise  the  fatherland  as  the  home  of  the  ideal  while 
the  new  world  is  supposed  to  be  the  seat  of  realistic 
avarice  and  egotism. 

This  is  neither  fair  nor  true,  for  there  are  as  many 
and  as  great  sacrifices  made  for  pure  ideal  ends  on 
this  side  of  the  Atlantic  as  on  the  other  side.  We 
maintain  that  Europe  is  less  ideal  than  America.  If 
impartial  statistics  could  be  compiled  of  all  the  gifts 
and  legacies  made  for  the  public  benefit,  for  artistic, 
scientific,  and  religious  purposes,  the  American  figures 
would  by  far  exceed  those  of  all  Europe.  In  Germany 
the  government  has  to  do  everything.  It  has  to  build 
the  churches,  to  endow  the  universities,  to  create  in- 
dustrial and  art  institutions.  If  the  government  would 
not  do  it,  all  ideal  work  would  be  neglected,  science 
would  have  to  go  begging,  and  the  church  would 
either  pass  out  of  existence  or  remain  for  a  long  time 
in  a  most  wretched  and  undignified  position.  This 
state  of  affairs  is  not  at  all  due  to  a  lack  of  idealism 
among  the  people  of  the  old  world,  but  is  a  consequence 
of  the  paternal  care  of  the  government.  The  govern- 
ment provides  for  the  ideal  wants  of  its  subjects  ;  so 
they  get  accustomed  to  being  taken  care  of.  There 
is  scarcely  anybody  who  considers  it  his  duty  to  work 
for  progress,  except  where  he  cannot  help  it,  in  his 
private  business,  in  industrial  and  commercial  lines. 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  307 

Scarcely  anybody  thinks  of  making  a  sacrifice  for  art, 
science,  or  the  general  welfare,  and  science  and  gen- 
eral welfare  are  looked  upon  as  the  business  of  kings 
and  magistrates. 

We  live  in  a  republic  and  the  ideals  of  republican 
institutions  are  a  sacred  inheritance  from  the  founders 
of  this  nation.  We  are  no  subjects  of  a  czar  or  em- 
peror, for  in  a  republic  every  citizen  is  a  king ;  and 
the  government  is  the  employ^  of  the  citizens.  The 
highest  officer  of  our  government,  the  president  of 
the  United  States  is  proud,  when  leaving  the  White 
House,  of  having  tried  to  be  a  faithful  public  servant 
promoting  the  general  welfare  according  to  his  best 
ability. 

It  is  true  that  we  are  far — very  far,  from  having 
realised  our  ideals.  Our  politics  are  full  of  unworthy 
actions,  and  many  things  happen  of  which  we  are  or 
should  be  ashamed  that  they  are  possible  at  all  in  the 
home  of  the  brave  and  the  free.  It  is  true  also  that 
many  of  our  laws,  far  from  expressing  a  spirit  of  justice 
and  goodwill  towards  all  mankind,  are  dictated  by 
greed  and  egotism  ;  further  it  is  true  that  national 
chauvinism  and  national  vanity  go  so  far  as  to  make 
any,  even  the  sincerest,  criticism  of  our  national  faults 
odious.  Nevertheless  we  have  our  ideals  and  our 
ideals  may  be  characterised  in  the  one  word  humani- 
tarianism. 

How  many  there  are  who  believe  in  the  beneficial 
influence  of  petty  advantages,  unfairly  gained  by  giv- 
ing up  the  higher  standard  of  justice  and  right  !  How 
many  there  are  who  suppress  the  cosmopolitan  spirit 
of  our  ideals  and  foster  a  narrow  exclusiveness  which 
they  are  pleased  to  call  patriotism.  Their  sort  of  pa- 


3o8  HOMILIES  Of-  SCIENCE. 

triotism  will  never  benefit  our  country  but  will  work 
it  serious  injury. 

Our  fourth  of  July  orators  pronounce  too  many  and 
too  brazen  flatteries  upon  our  accomplishments,  and 
speak  too  little  about  our  duties,  when  they  represent 
us  as  that  nation  upon  the  development  of  which  the 
future  fate  of  humanity  depends.  There  is  too  much 
talk  about  our  freedom,  as  if  no  liberty  had  existed  be- 
fore the  declaration  of  independence.  What  a  degrada- 
tion of  the  characters  of  our  ancestry  !  Was  it  not  love 
of  liberty  that  set  the  sails  of  the  Mayflower,  was  it  not 
love  of  liberty  that  drove  so  many  exiles  over  the  At- 
lantic. Did  the  love  of  liberty  not  pulsate  in  the  hearts 
of  all  the  nationalities  that  make  up  our  nation  ?  Were 
not  the  Saxons,  the  Teutons,  the  sons  of  Erin,  the  Swiss, 
the  French,  the  Italians,  jealous  of  their  liberties? 
does  not  their  history  prove  the  pride  they  took  in 
preserving  their  rights  and  securing  the  dignity  of 
their  manhood  ?  Love  of  liberty  fought  the  battle  of 
the  Teutoburg  forest  even  before  the  Saxon  sepa- 
rated from  his  German  brothers  to  found  the  English 
nation.  Love  of  liberty  was  described  by  Tacitus  as 
the  national  trait  of  the  barbarians  of  the  North  whose 
institutions  and  customs  and  language  have  with  cer- 
tain modifications  devolved  upon  the  present  genera- 
tion now  living  in  America. 

Let  us  not  undervalue  our  forefathers  for  the  sake  of 
a  local  patriotism  ;  let  us  fully  recognise  the  truth  that 
we  have  inherited  the  most  valuable  treasures  of  our 
national  ideals  from  former  ages.  In  thus  understand- 
ing how  our  civic  life  is  rooted  in  the  farthest  past,  we 
shall  at  the  same  time  look  with  confidence  into  the 
darkness  of  future  eras.  Our  present  state  is  but  a 
stepping  stone  to  the  realisation  of  higher  ideals,  for 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.  309 

the  possible  progress  of  mankind  is  infinite  and  our 
very  shortcomings  remind  us  of  the  work  that  is  still 
to  be  done. 

Let  us  cherish  that  kind  of  patriotism  which  takes 
pride  in  the  humanitarian  ideals  of  our  nation. 

With  our  humanitarian  ideals  we  shall  stand,  and 
without  them  we  shall  fall.  So  long  as  our  shores  re- 
main the  place  of  refuge  for  the  persecuted,  so  long 
as  our  banner  appears  as  the  star  of  hope  to  the  op- 
pressed, and  so  long  as  our  politics,  our  customs,  our 
principles  rouse  the  sympathy  of  liberty-loving  men, 
our  nation  will  grow  and  prosper ;  the  spirit  of  progress 
will  find  here  its  home  and  the  human  race  will  reach 
a  higher  stage  of  development  than  was  ever  attained 
upon  earth. 

This  great  aim,  however,  can  be  attained  only  by 
a  strong  faith  in  the  rightfulness  and  final  triumph  of 
the  ideal,  by  perseverance  and  earnest  struggle  ;  by  a 
holy  zeal  for  justice  in  small  as  well  as  in  great  things; 
by  intrepid  maintenance  of  personal  independence  and 
freedom  for  every  loyal  citizen  ;  and  by  the  rigid  ob- 
servance of  all  duties  political  and  otherwise  so  that 
the  electors  cast  their  votes  in  honesty  and  the  elected 
fill  their  offices  with  integrity. 

Historical  investigations  proved  that  the  golden 
age  must  not  be  sought  in  the  past.  May  we  not 
hope  that  it  lies  before  us  in  the  future?  Without  be- 
lieving in  a  millennium  upon  earth,  in  a  state  of  ideal 
perfection,  or  in  a  heaven  of  unmixed  happiness,  we 
yet  confidently  trust  that  we  can  successfully  work  for 
the  realisation  of  the  golden  age  in  our  beloved  home 
on  the  western  continent — where  the  conditions  are 
such  as  to  leave  us  only  these  two  alternatives  :  either 
the  uneducated  classes  (among  whom  we  have  to  count 


310  HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 

some  of  our  richest  citizens)  will  with  their  ballots  and 
their  influence  in  politics  ruin  the  country,  or  they 
will,  perhaps  after  many  dearly  bought  experiences, 
be  educated  up  to  a  higher  moral  plane. 

Let  us  work  for  the  American  Ideal  and  let  us  hope 
for  the  future. 


INDEX. 


Abolition  of  dogmas,  29. 

Achilles,  119. 

Adaptation  and  evolution,  37. 

Adversary,  Understand  your,  257. 

.lEschylus,  117,  119.  / 

Agitators,  302. 

Agnostic,  214.  , 

Agnostic,  The  orthodox  and  the,  204. 

Agnosticism,  Three  attitudes  of,  214, 

215. 

Agreement  between,  23. 
Ahriman  and  Ormuzd,  94. 
Amelioration,  142. 
America,  Ideals  of,  305,  306. 
Amos,  235,  236. 
Anarchism  and  Socialism,   283,   285, 

286,  287. 
Anarchy,  139. 

Angels  and  ethics,  The,  274,  275. 
Antinomies,  113,  114. 
Antisthenes,  80. 
Aristocracy  of  the  mind,  196. 
Aristocratic  habits,  303. 
Aristocratomania,  277,  278,  279. 
Armour,  Mr.,  228. 
Asaph,  272. 
Athanasius,  92. 
Atheism,  90,  104,  112,  193. 
Atheism  and  dogmatic  theism,  92. 
Authority  and  freethought,  192. 
Authority, God — to  regulate  action,  79. 

Backbone  and  the  struggle  for  life, 

244. 

Bacon,  107. 
Baer,  von,  44. 
Baldur,  72,  73. 
Beam  in  the  eye,  the,  198. 
Belief  in  immortality,  175,  176 
Bellamy,  290,  291,  292. 
Bible,  75,  76,  77,  221,  223. 


Bible  and  ethics,  222. 

Birth,  14. 

Birth  and  death,  159,  160. 

Blind  guides,  199. 

Bruno,  Giordano,  230. 

Bryant,  quotation  from,  162. 

Buddha,  123,  125,  126,  143,  146,  171. 

Buddhism,  143,  146,  148,  150,  171. 

Burial,  14. 

Burns,  Robt.,  304. 

Caesar,  262,  293. 

Calvin,  30. 

Ceremonies,  33. 

Changes,  23. 

Chastity,  262. 

Christ,  6,  7,  17,  21,  22,  25,  33,  60,  73, 
105,  106,  in,  121,  143,  146,  149,  151, 
172,  208,  223,  224,  225,  236,  245,  246, 
247,  248,  279,  280,  299. 

Christ  and  non-resistance,  249. 

Christ  and  the  adulteress,  268. 

Christ  on  the  rich,  281. 

Christianity,  4, 15,  32,  49,  143,  146,  148, 
150. 

Christmas,  71,  74. 

Churches,  203. 

Classical  fairy  tales,  50. 

Clifford,  W.  K.,  180. 

Cold  and  heat,  95. 

Commandments,  19,  21. 

Competition,  239,  241,  248,  265,  285, 
286,  290,  292. 

Complexity,  39,  41,  42. 

Conception  of  the  world,  16. 

Conciliation  between  science  and  re- 
ligion, 61. 

Conquest  of  death,  144. 

Conscience,  54,  55,  75,  77. 

Conservation  of  matter  and  energy, 
139. 


312 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 


Conservation  of  soul-life,  140. 
Co-operation,  291. 
Cope,  Prof.  E.  D.,  295. 
Cosmos,  10,  159. 
Cosmos  and  design,  89. 
Counterfeits,  270. 
Criticism,  51. 

Darwin,  43,  208,  227. 
David,  56,  130,  213,  223. 
David's  son,  156. 
Death,  14,  145,  147. 
Death  and  birth,  159,  160. 
Death  and  love,  185,  186. 
Death,  Conquest  of,  144,  155. 
Death,  Dread  of,  158. 
Death  no  finality,  180. 
Death  the  wages  of  sin,  141. 
Deceptions,  56. 
Dependence,  Woman's,  295. 
Design,  84. 

Design  and  cosmos,  89. 
Devil,  Talmud  on  the,  95. 
Devotion  to  truth,  60. 
Dilettanteism,  234. 
Direction  in  evolution,  94. 
Direction  of  evolution,  95,  98. 
Discussion  of  ethics,  256. 
Disintegration  increasing,  38. 
Disparagement,  258. 
Divine,  42. 

Divinity  and  nature,  247. 
Dogmas,  Abolition  of,  29. 
Dogmas  and  science,  59. 
Dogmatism,  34. 
Doubt  and  faith,  227,  229. 
Doubt  in  truth,  9. 
Dreams  and  ideals,  288. 
Dreams  and  progress,  288. 
Dualism  and  monism,  240. 
Duality  of  truth,  58. 
Duty  and  work,  150. 
Duly  of  clergy,  13,  14. 

Easter,  151. 

Ecclesiasticism  and  liberalism,  205. 

Egg  a  symbol  of  resurrection, The,  152. 

Egg,  The  Easter,  151. 

Ego,  146,  147,  167,  168,  171. 

Ego,  No  immortality  of  the,  187. 

Ego,  Surrender  of  the,  172. 


Ego,  Surrender  of — no  annihilation, 

172. 

Egotism,  273. 
Eleusis,  165. 

Emancipation,  woman's,  297, 
Enemies,  Our— our  counterpart,  242. 
Entheism,  97. 
Epicurus  on  death,  159. 
Errors,  9,  120,  209. 
Errors  and  truth,  208. 
Esquimaux,  169. 

Eternal  youth  and  immortality,  161. 
Ethical  law  and  knowledge,  81. 
Ethical  man,  220. 
Ethical  questions  and    immortality, 

177- 

Ethical  religion,  3. 
Ethics,  37. 

Ethics  and  Bible,  222. 
Ethics  and  immortality,  154. 
Ethics  and  pain,  219. 
Ethics,  Discussion  of,  256. 
Ethics  in  other  parts  of  the  universe, 

218. 

Ethics  of  altruism  wrong,  241. 
Ethics  of  arithmetic,  81. 
Ethics  of  evolution,  47. 
Ethics  of  struggle,  243,  244. 
Ethics  of  the  churches,  204. 
Ethics,  The  angels  and,  274,  275. 
Evil  and  good,  95. 
Evil  and  negative  magnitudes,  96. 
Evil  and  pantheism,  94, 
Evolution,  5,  39,  41,  43,  44. 
Evolution  and  adaptation,  37. 
Evolution  and  immortality,  176,  179. 
Evolution  and  intelligence,  83, 
Evolution,  Ethics  of,  47. 
Evolution,  Laws  of,  37. 
Evolution  not  a  material  and  not  a 

mechanical  process,  39. 
Evolution  of  life  not  mechanical,  40. 
Evolution  of  truth,  33. 

Factors,  Principles  and,  283,  284. 

Facts,  13. 

Fairyland,  20. 

Fairy  tales  and  truth,  48. 

Faith,  156. 

Faith  and  doubt,  227,  229. 

Faith  in  truth,  182,  193. 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 


Feeling,  45. 

Feelings  and  mind,  101. 

Feel  the  truth,  53. 

Fiction  and  truth,  153. 

Fool  of  the  gospel,  The,  197. 

Form,  The  secrets  of,  152. 

Free  love,  263,  266,  267. 

Freethinkers, Religion  wanted  among, 

226. 

Free,  Thought  not,  190. 
Freethought,  189. 
Freethought  and  authority,  192. 
Freethought,  Heroes  of,  230. 
Freethought,  The  God  of,  193. 
Freytag,  Gustav,  141. 
Fulfillment,  6. 
Fulfillment  of  the  law,  17. 
Future,  Religion  of  the,  147. 

Genesis,  43,  99. 

Germany,  The  paternal   government 

of,  306. 

Ghosts,  137,  138,  139,  141,  145. 
Ghost-immortality,  168. 
Ghost-soul,  167,  168,  169,  170. 
God,   19,  21,  23,  79,  80,   in,  116,  146, 

210. 

God  and  nature  not  identical,  93. 
God  a  mind?  Is,  102. 
God  as  an  inventor,  86. 
God,  authority  to  regulate  action,  79. 
God  everywhere,  97. 
Godfathers,  14. 
God-idea,  41. 

God  immutability  of  order,  87. 
God  is  reality,  102. 
God  is  spirit,  106. 
God,  Jahveh,  183. 
God,  Manifestations  of,  105. 
God  not  a  man,  91. 
God  of  nature,  80. 
God  superhuman,  88. 
God  the  standard  of  ethics,  100. 
Goethe,  77,  117,  119,  129,  170,  175,  184, 

211,  221,  262,  274,  280. 
Gold,  A  curse  rests  on,  279. 
Goldsmith,  Oliver,  270. 
Good  and  evil,  95. 
Good  and  truth,  59. 
Gospel,  g,  n,  12. 


Gravitation,   Proposition   to  abolish, 

289,  290. 

Growth  of  soul,  42. 
Guide  through  life,  46. 
Guyau.  on  irreligion,  i. 

Hagen  and  Rudeger,  243. 

Happiness,  148. 

Happiness,  pursuit  of,  121,  124 

Hated,  9. 

Heat  and  cold,  95, 

Hedonism,  47. 

Heine,  Heinrich,  215. 

Hercules,  118. 

Heroes  of  freethought,  230. 

Hesiod,  50. 

Heterogeneous,  38. 

Higher  life,  3. 

Historical  facts,  15. 

Historical  religion,  17. 

History  of  religious  progress,  61. 

Holy  Ghost,  221. 

Hosmer,  50. 

Homogeneous,  38. 

Honesty,  Need  of,  235. 

Honesty,  Utility  of,  269. 

Hosea,  82. 

Humboldt,  221. 

Hume,  127,  230. 

Huxley,  53. 

Huxley  on  morality,  250. 

Ibsen,  Henrik,  137,  138,  141. 

Iconoclast,  19. 

Ideal  world,  46. 

Ideals  and  dreams,  288. 

Ideals  of  America,  305,  306. 

Idolatry,  87. 

Idols,  80. 

Immortal,  147. 

Immortal,  Ideals  are,  165. 

Immortal  life,  144. 

Immortality,    131,    145,    146,    151,    153, 

154.  159,  160,  167,  169,  170,  171,  173. 
Immortality  and  eternal  youth,  161. 
Immortality  and  ethical  questions, 

177- 

Immortality  and  ethics,  154. 
Immortality  and  evolution,  176,  179 
Immortality    and    sex-relations,    260, 

261. 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 


Immortality  and  spiritism,  166. 
Immortality  and  woman,  294. 
Immortality,  Belief  in,  175,  176. 
Immortality,  Continuance  of  life,  181. 
Immortality,  No— of  the  ego,  187. 
Immutability  of  order,  God,  87. 
Indestructibility,  170. 
Indifference,  64. 

Individual  a  part  of  the  whole,  20. 
Individual,  the,  178. 
Individuality,  135,  136. 
Individuality  preserved,  165. 
Inertia,  Law  of,  25. 
Infidel,  23. 

Infinite,  108,  109,  no,  in. 
Infinitude  and  mind,  102,  103. 
Ingersoll,  Robert,  209. 
Ingersoll  on  immortality,  186. 
Intelligence  a  machine,  86. 
Intelligence,  a  machine  of,  85. 
Intelligence  analysed,  83. 
Intelligence  and  evolution,  83. 
Ironbeard,  19. 
Irreligious  age,  i. 

Jahveh,  183. 

Jeremiah,  303. 

John  the  Baptist,  33,  73. 

Joy,  Religions  of,  148. 

Justice  alone  insufficient  truth,  56. 

Kant,  44,  172,  230. 

Kingdom  of  God,  32,  33. 

Kingdom  of  God,  Truth  is  the,  34. 

King  of  truth,  34. 

Knowledge  and  ethical  law,  81. 

Lamarck,  44. 

Lasalle,  280. 

Lavoisier,  25. 

Law,  139. 

Laws  of  evolution,  37. 

Lazarus,  Emma,  215. 

Leckey  on  religion,  i. 

Leo  X.,  231. 

Lessing,  230. 

Letter,  25. 

Liberalism  and  ecclesiasticism,  205. 

Life,  37. 

Logos,  105,  106. 

Love  and  death,  185,  186. 


Luther,  31,  61,  144,  145,   164,  207,  209 
225,  230,  231,  232. 

Macauley  on  the  Puritans,  200. 
Machine  of  intelligence,  a,  85. 
Man  and  woman,  296. 
Man,  Ethical,  220. 
Manifestations  of  God,  105. 
Marriage,  260,  264. 
Matrimony,  14. 
Maya,  122,  123,  171,  173. 
Mayflower,  201,  308. 
Mediums,  169. 
Mene  tekel,  235. 
Metaphysical,  108. 
Metaphysics  and  morality,  252. 
Migrations  of  souls,  180. 
Millennium,  292,  309. 
Mind  and  infinitude,  102,  103. 
Mind  a  world  in  ideas,  101. 
Miracles,  19. 
Mistletoe,  72. 
Monism  and  dualism,  240. 
Monogamy,  264,  265,  266. 
Moral  and  religious  faith,  15. 
Morality,  131. 

Morality  active  and  passive,  273. 
Morality  and  metaphysics,  252. 
Morality  and  religion,  254. 
Morality  and  success,  233. 
Morality  and  theology,  252. 
Morality  and  truth,  66. 
Morality,  Need  of,  236. 
Morality,  positive,  274,  275. 
Moses,  43. 

Milller,  F.  Max,  108,  no,  112. 
Mustard-seed,  156. 
Mutability,  b8. 

Mutability  and  personality,  85. 
Mysticism  and  truth,  52. 
Mythology,  34,  66,  143,  150,  153. 
Mythology  of  religion,  20. 
Mythology,  Truth  in,  120. 

Napoleon,  274. 

Nation,  58. 

Nationalism,  291,  292. 

Natural  laws  of  social  growth,  285. 

Natural  selection,  38. 

Nature,  75. 

Nature  and  divinity,  247. 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 


Nature  and  God  not  identical,  93. 

Nature  immortal,  2. 

New,  i. 

New  ethics,  5. 

New  religion,  3,  12,  26. 

Nibelungen  saga,  243,  279. 

Nirvana,  121,  123,  125,  144,  171. 

Non-resistance,  245. 

Non-risistance  an* Christ,  249. 

Non-resistance,  Struggle  and,  248. 

Observation,  33. 

Omniscience,  104. 

Open  Court,  The,  58,  60,  61. 

Order,  10. 

Order  and  struggle,  239. 

Ormuzd  and  Ahriman,  94. 

Orthodox,  19,  23,  33. 

Orthodox  and  agnostic,  The,  204. 

Orthodoxy  of  science,  207. 

Ovine  Morality,  250,  251. 

Paganism,  104,  105. 

Paganism  and  personal  God,  88. 

Pain  and  ethics,  219. 

Pain,  diminution  of,  218. 

Palm  tree,  The,  282. 

Panem  et  circenses,  293. 

Pantheism,  90. 

Pantheism,  and  evil,  94. 

Pantheism,  The  blind  side  of,  93. 

Parables,  66. 

Parables,  Meaning  in,  120. 

Paralogism,  167. 

Paralogisms,  113. 

Past,  6. 

Pastor,  13. 

Paul,  147,  164,  225. 

Personal  God  and  paganism,  88. 

Personal  intelligence  laws,  84. 

Personalities,  Variety  of,  135. 

Personality,  88. 

Personality  and  mutability,  85. 

Phlogiston,  25. 

Pilate,  33. 

Pilgrims,  The,  204. 

Pious  fraud,  176. 

Pleasure,  26. 

Pleasure,  Craving  for,  140. 

Pleasures,  The  zest  of,  276. 

Pledged  to  truth,  12. 


Polygamy,  265. 

Poor  and  rich,  276-279,  299,  300,  302. 

Positivism,  108. 

Positivism  and  theism,  109. 

Power  and  truth,  101. 

Power,  Religion  ceased  to  be,  i. 

Practical,  I. 

Preservation  of  personality,  181. 

Preservation  of  the  individual   soul, 

178. 

Principles  and  factors,  283,  284. 
Problem,  216. 

Progress,  35,  36,  37,  42,  244,  248. 
Progress  and  dreams,  288. 
Progress  and  truth,  194. 
Prometheus,  117,  118,  119. 
Pseudo-wisdom,  55. 
Puritans,  164,  200,  202. 
Pursuit  of  happiness,  121,  124. 

Questions,  213,  214,  216. 

Readjustment,  18. 

Realistic,  i,  3, 

Reality  and  the  ideal,  288. 

Reformation,  145. 

Reformers,  Retrogressive,  37. 

Regulate  conduct,  16. 

Religion,  10,  35,  106,  112,  155,  156,  157, 
200,  253. 

Religion  a  fairy-tale,  49. 

Religion  and  morality,  254. 

Religion  and  power,  202. 

Religion  and  scienc,  129,  206,  210,  211. 

Religion  a  popularised  system  of  eth- 
ics, 26. 

Religion  ceased  to  be  power,  i. 

Religion,  Historical,  17. 

Religion,  Object  of,  130. 

Religion  of  facts,  66. 

Religion  of  freethought,  189. 

Religion  of  the  future,  147. 

Religion  of  joy,  148. 

Religion  wanted  among  freethinkers, 
226. 

Religion  ?  What  is,  60. 

Religious  and  moral  faith,  15. 

Religious  nature  of  evolution,  44. 

Religious  revolution,  4. 

Republic,  307. 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 


Republic  and  caste,  303. 

Resignation,  143,  147. 

Resurrection,  151. 

Resurrection  of  the  body,  182. 

Resurrection, The  egg  a  symbol  of,  152. 

Retrogressive  adaptation,  38. 

Retrogressive  reformers,  37. 

Revelation,  75. 

Revelation  and  truth,  76. 

Revelations,  76. 

Reverence,  30. 

Reverence  for  the  merits,  6. 

Revision,  28. 

Revolution,  5,  298,  299,  300,  301,  302, 

303,  304. 

Rich  and  poor,  276-279,  299,  300,  302. 
Right  and  truth,  47. 
Right  direction,  36. 
Righteousness,  76. 
Rudiger  and  Hagen,  243. 


Saccharine  religiosity,  251. 

Sacrifices,  26. 

Salter,  223,  225. 

Salvation,  163. 

Salvation  of  souls,  127. 

Sausara,  121,  123. 

Saviour,  74. 

Scepticism,  227,  228. 

Scherr,  Johannes,  163,  164. 

Schiller,  80,  93,  173,  210. 

Schiller  quotation,  69. 

Schiller's  Xenion,  188. 

Schilling  on  revolution,  George,  300, 
307. 

Schoolmen,  58. 

Science,  5,  9,  15,  55, 106. 

Science  and  dogmas,  59. 

Science  and  religion,  129,  206,  210, 
211. 

Scriptures,  75,  76. 

Search  for  truth,  112. 

Selection,  38. 

Selection  in  the  struggle  for  exist- 
ence, 237. 

Self-preservation,  Sexual  relations, 
and,  260. 

Sexual  ethics,  260. 

Sexual  relations  and  self-preserva- 
tion, 260. 


Shakespeare,    Quotation    from,    170, 

281. 

Sheep,  allegory,  The,  250. 
Sheep,  The  simile  of  a.,  345. 
Signs  of  the  time,  2. 
Simplicity,  42. 
Sin,  Death  the  wages  of,  141. 
Social  growth,  Natural  laws  of,  285. 
Socialism  and   anarchism,   283,    283, 

286,  287. 
Socrates,  208. 
Solace  in  death,  14. 
Solomon' s  denial  of  immortality,  175. 
Solovieff,  32. 

Son  of  man,  The,  119,  120. 
Sophisms,  258. 
Soul,  42,  128,  132. 
Soul-life,  Conservation  of,  140. 
Soul-life,  Origin  of,  40. 
Soul  of  the  Soul,  The,  134. 
Soul,  Preservation  of  the  individual, 

178. 

Soul,  The  human  element  of  the,  284. 
Soul,  The  unity  of  the.  133. 
Souls,  Hoarding  up,  165. 
Souls,  Migration  of,  180. 
Souls  of  the  past,  The,  164. 
Souls  of  the  slain  and  the  victor,  The, 

242. 

Spencer,  38,  39,  46. 
Spencer,  Quotation  from,  264. 
Spinoza,  230,  247. 
Spirit,  25. 
Spirit,  God  is,  106. 
Spiritism  and  immortality,  166. 
Spiritism,  its  dearth  of  ideas,  169. 
Spiritual  life,  46. 
Standard  of  ethics,  God  the,  100. 
Strife,  240. 
Strongest,  38. 

Struggle  and  non-resistance,  248. 
Struggle  and  order,  239. 
Struggle  and  progress,  241. 
Struggle,  Ethics  of,  243. 
Struggle  for  existence,  Selection  in 

the,  237. 

Struggle  for  life,  45,  291. 
Struggle,  the  backbone  of  man,  244. 
Struggle,  The  ethics  of,  244. 
Success,  4,  6. 
Success  and  morality,  233. 


HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE. 


Superhuman  God,  88. 

Suoernatural,  19. 

Superstition,  210. 

Superstitions  of  science,  207. 

Sursum,  44,  97. 

Survival  of  the  fittest,  237. 

Survive,  38. 

Swift,  Morrison  I.  ,  298,  299,  302. 

Talmud  on  the  devil,  95. 

Tat  twam  asi,  179. 

Tauler,  173. 

Tempter,  the,  55. 

Test  of  religion,  35. 

Theism  and  positivism,  109. 

Theism  not  wrong,  90. 

Themis,  117. 

Theology  and  morality,  252. 

Thetis,  119. 

Thinker  a  power,  The,  63. 

Thought,  In  the  empire  of,  25. 

Thought  not  free,  190. 

Tolerance,  Misinterpretation  of,  190, 

191. 

Tolstoi,  Count,  246. 
Treviranus,  44. 
Trickery,  56,  233,  275. 
Trust  in  truth,  192. 
Truth,  8,   10,  it,   12,  42,  47,  56,  76,  78, 

1 20,  206,  232. 

Truth  and  controversies,  256. 
Truth  and  errors,  208. 
Truth  and  fairy-tales,  48. 
Truth  and  fiction,  153. 
Truth  and  freethought,  190. 
Truth  and  good,  59. 
Truth  and  morality,  66. 
Truth  and  mysticism,  52. 
Truth  and  power,  101. 
Truth  and  progress,  194. 
Truth  and  revelation,  76. 
Truth  and  right,  47. 
Truth  appears  to  destroy,  182. 
Truth,  Devotion  to,  60. 
Truth  in  mythology,  120. 
Truth  is  one,  20. 


Truth  is  the  kingdom  of  God,  34. 
Truth  objective,  191,  192. 
Truth  of  the  God-idea,  The,  93. 
Truth  the  supreme  judge,  31. 
Truth,  Trust  in,  275. 
Truth,  Unity  of,  58. 
Truth  useful,  176. 
Truth  ?  What  is,  66. 
Truth  will  conquer,  65,  67, 

Unity  of  the  soul,  The,  133. 

Unity  of  truth,  58. 

Universe,  Is  the — ethical,  217. 

Unknowable,  40. 

Useful,  Truth,  176. 

Utility  of  honesty,  269. 

Utopia,  283. 

Variety  of  personalities,  135. 
Vicar  of  Wakefield,  The,  270,  271. 
Vice  its  curse,  139. 
Victor,  The  souls  of  the  slain  and  the 

242. 

Virgil,  280. 
Virtue,  38,  273. 
Voice  crying  in  the  wilderness,  12. 

Watt,  James,  288. 

Weakness  and  morality,  245. 

Weismann,  38. 

Wheelbarrow,  224. 

White  House,  307. 

Whole,  54. 

Winnow  the  errors  of  the  past,  92. 

Wolff,  Caspar  Friedrich,  44. 

Woman  and  immortality,  294. 

Woman  and  man,  196. 

Words  religion,  God  and  soul,  24. 

Work  and  duty,  150. 

World  a  cosmos,  41. 

Worship  of  a  personal  God,  The,  87. 

Ygdrasil,  72. 
Yule-tide,  71,  73. 

Zeus,  us. 


THE  OPEN  COURT 


PUBLISHED  EVERY  THURSDAY  BY 


EDWARD  C.  HEGELER,  PRES.  Dr.  PAUI    CARUS,  EDITOR 

P.  O.  DRAWER  F.  169-175  La  Salle  Street. 

CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS. 


The  reader  will  find  in  The  Open  Court  an  earnest  and,  as  we  believe,  a 
successful  effort  to  conciliate  Religion  with  Science.  The  work  is  done  with 
due  reverence  for  the  past  and  with  full  confidence  in  a  higher  future. 

The  Open  Court  unites  the  deliberation  and. prudence  of  conservatism 
with  the  radicalism  of  undaunted  progress.  While  the  merits  of  the  old  creeds 
are  fully  appreciated,  their  errors  are  not  overlooked.  The  ultimate  conse- 
quences of  the  most  radical  thought  are  accepted,  but  care  is  taken  to  avoid 
the  faults  of  a  one  sided  view. 

The  Quintessence  of  Religion  is  shown  to  be  a  truth.  It  is  a  scientific  truth 
which  has  been  and  will  remain  the  basis  of  ethics.  The  Quintessence  of  Re- 
ligion contains  all  that  is  good  and  true,  elevating  and  comforting,  in  the  old 
religions.  Superstitious  notions  are  recognised  as  mere  accidental  features, 
of  which  Religion  can  be  purified  without  harm,  to  the  properly  religious  spirit. 

This  idea  is  fearlessly  and  without  reservation  of  any  kind,  presented  in 
its  various  scientific  aspects  and  in  its  deep  significance  to  intellectual  and 
emotional  life.  If  fully  grasped,  it  will  be  found  to  satisfy  the  yearnings  of  the 
heart  as  well  as  the  requirements  of  the  intellect. 

Facts  which  seem  to  bear  unfavorably  on  this  solution  of  the  religious 
problem  are  not  shunned,  but  openly  faced.  Criticisms  have  been  welcome, 
and  will  always  receive  due  attention.  The  severest  criticism,  we  trust,  will 
serve  only  to  elucidate  the  truth  of  the  main  idea  propounded  in  The  Open 

Court. 

*  *  * 

What  is  Science  but  "searching  for  the  truth."  What  is  Religion  but 
"  living  the  truth."  Our  knowledge  of  the  truth,  however,  is  relative  and  ad 


mits  of  a  constant  progress.  As  all  life  is  evolution,  so  also  Science  and  Re- 
ligion are  developing.  With  an  enlarged  experience  of  the  human  race  they 
are  growing  more  comprehensive,  purer,  and  truer.  Scientific  truths  become 
religious  truths  as  soon  as  they  become  factors  that  regulate  conduct. 

The  progress  of  Science  during  the  last  century,  especially  in  the  field  of 
psychology,  has  produced  the  impression  as  if  there  were  a  conflict  between 
Science  and  Religion,  but  there  is  no  conflict  and  there  cannot  be  any  conflict 
between  Science  and  Religion.  There  may  be  conflicts  between  erroneous 
views  of  Science  as  well  as  of  Religion.  But  wherever  such  conflicts  appear 
we  may  rest  assured  that  there  are  errors  somewhere,  for  Religion  and  Science 
are  inseparable.  Science  is  searching  for  truth  and  Religion  is  living  the 
truth. 

*  *  * 

The  Open  Court  pays  special  attention  to  psychology.  Great  progress  has 
been  made  of  late  in  a  more  accurate  and  scientific  investigation  of  the  human 
soul.  While  the  new  conception  of  the  soul  will  materially  alter  some  of  the 
dogmatic  views,  it  will  not  affect  the  properly  religious  spirit  of  religion,  it 
will  not  alter  the  ethical  truths  of  religion  but  will  confirm  them  and  place 
them  upon  a  scientific  foundation. 

Since  we  have  gained  a  scientific  insight  into  the  nature  of  the  human 
soul,  the  situation  is  as  thoroughly  altered  as  our  conception  of  the  universe 
was  in  the  times  when  the  geocentric  standpoint  had  to  be  abandoned.  The 
new  psychology  which  may  briefly  be  called  the  abandonment  of  the  ego-cen- 
tric standpoint  of  the  soul  will  influence  the  religious  development  of  humanity 
in  no  less  a  degree  than  the  new  astronomy  has  done.  At  first  sight  the  new 
truths  seem  appalling.  However,  a  closer  acquaintance  with  the  modern  so- 
lution of  the  problems  of  soul-life  and  especially  the  problem  of  immortality 
shows  that,  instead  of  destroying,  it  will  purify  religion. 

The  religion  of  The  Open  Court  is  neither  exclusive  nor  sectarian,  but 
liberal ;  it  seeks  to  aid  the  efforts  of  all  scientific  and  progressive  people  in 
the  churches  and  out  of  them,  toward  greater  knowledge  of  the  world  in 
which  we  live,  and  the  moral  and  practical  duties  it  requires. 

ESPECIAL  ATTENTION  DEVOTED  TO  QUESTIONS  OF  ETHICS,  Economcs,  AND 
SOCIOLOGY.  The  work  of  The  Open  Court  has  been  very  successful  in  this  de- 
partment. Discussion  has  been  evoked  on  almost  every  topic  treated  of. 
Wheelbarrow's  contributions  to  practical  economics,  Prof.  E.  D.  Cope's  and 
Moncure  D.  Conway's  treatment  of  current  sociological  questions,  Dr.  G.  M. 
Gould's,  Mrs.  Susan  Channing's,  and  A.  H.  Heinemann's  examination  of 
criminal  conditions  and  domestic  relations.  Gen.  M.  M.  Trumbull's  trenchant 
criticisms  of  certain  ethical  phases  of  our  political  life.  The  discussion 
between  Wm.  M.  Sailer,  Profes  or  Jodl,  and  the  Editor  on  THE  ETHICAL 
PROBLEM,  and  many  other  contributions  of  note  by  Dr.  S.  V.  Clevenger,  Chas. 


K.  Whipple,  J.  C.  F.  Grumbine,  George  Julian  Harney,  John  Burroughs,  Wm. 
Schuyler,  F.  M.  Holland,  Ednah  D.  Cheney,  E.  P.  Powe'.l,  Dr.  Felix  L.  Oswald, 
Prof.  Joseph  Le  Conte  and  others  have  been  received  with  marked  favor. 

Authorised  translations  are  made  from  the  currant  periodical  literature 
of  Continental  Europe,  and  original  contributions  obtained  from  the  most 
eminent  investigators  of  England,  France,  and  Germany. 

In  the  philosophy  of  language  may  be  mentioned  the  recent  contributions 
of  Max  Miiller  on  THE  SCIENCE  OF  LANGUAGE,  the  translations  from  Moire's 
works  on  THE  ORIGIN  OF  LANGUAGE,  and  the  essays  of  Mr.  T.  Bailey  Saunders 
on  THE  ORIGIN  OF  REASON. 

Articles  on  vital  problems  of  PSYCHOLOGY  and  BIOLOGY,  appeared  from 
the  pens  of  Th.  Ribot,  Alfred  Binet,  Ernst  Haeckel,  Prof.  Ewald  Hering,  Prof. 
A.  Weismann  Prof.  E.  D.  Cops,  and  others. 


TERMS  OF  SUBSCRIPTION  : 

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Volume  IV "         3-°«;  "  225 

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THE  OPEN  COURT  PUBLISHING  CO., 

169-175  La  Salle  Street.  Post  Office  Drawer,  F. 

CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS. 


THE  MONIST. 

A  QUARTERLY  MAGAZINE 

PUBLISHED  BY 

THE   OPEN   COURT   PUBLISHING   CO. 

Editor  :  DR.  PAUL  CARUS.  Atsociattt  \  MA^'V  CA"S**' 

PRICE,  50  CENTS.  $2.00  PER  YEAR. 

THE  MONIST  is  a  magazine  which  counts  among  its  con- 
tributors the  most  prominent  thinkers  of  all  civilised  nations. 
There  are  American  thinkers  such  as  Joseph  Le  Conte,  Charles  S. 
Peirce,  E.  D.  Cope,  Moncure  D.  Conway  (the  latter  a  native  Eng- 
lishman, but  a  resident  citizen  of  the  United  States).  There  are 
English  savants  such  as  George  J.  Romanes,  James  Sully,  B.  Bo- 
sanquet,  and  the  famous  Oxford  Professor,  F.  Max  Muller.  There 
are  Germans  such  as  Justice  Albert  Post,  the  founder  of  ethnolog- 
ical jurisprudence,  Professors  Ernst  Mach  and  Friedrich  Jodl, 
French  and  Belgian  authors  such  as  Dr.  A.  Binet  and  Professor 
Delboeuf.  The  Italians  are  represented  by  the  great  criminologist 
Cesare  Lombroso  and  the  Danes  by  their  most  prominent  thinker 
Prof.  Harald  Hoffding.  Each  number  contains  one  or  two  letters 
on  bibliographical  and  literary  topics  from  French,  German,  or 
Italian  scholars. 

The  international  character  of  the  magazine  appears  also  in 
a  rich  review  of  English  and  foreign  publications.  Each  number 
contains  a  synopsis  of  the  most  important  books  and  periodicals, 
American  as  well  as  European,  in  the  philosophical,  ethical,  psy- 
chological, and  physiological  fields. 

THE  MONIST  represents  that  philosophical  conception  which 
is  at  present  known  by  the  name  of  "  Monism."  Monism,  as  it  is 
represented  in  THE  MONIST,  is  in  a  certain  sense  not  a  new  phi- 
losophy, it  does  not  come  to  revolutionise  the  world  and  overthrow 
the  old  foundations  of  science.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  the  outcome 
and  result  of  science  in  its  maturest  shape. 

The  term  "Monism"  is  often  used  in  the  sense  of  one-sub- 
stance-theory that  either  mind  alone  or  matter  alone  exists.  Such 
theories  are  better  called  Henism. 

Monism  is  not  "that  doctrine"  (as  Webster  has  it)  "  which 
refers  all  phenomena  to  a  single  ultimate  constituent  or  agent." 
Of  such  an  "  ultimate  constituent  or  agent"  we  know  nothing,  and 
it  will  be  difficult  to  state  whether  there  is  any  sense  in  the  mean- 
ing of  the  phrase  "  a  single  ultimate  constituent  or  agent." 


Monism  is  much  simpler  and  less  indefinite.  Monism  means 
that  the  whole  of  Reality,  i.  e.  everything  that  is,  constitutes  one 
inseparable  and  indivisible  entirety.  Monism  accordingly  is  a 
unitary  conception  of  the  world.  It  always  bears  in  mind  that  our 
words  are  abstracts  representing  parts  or  features  of  the  One  and 
All,  and  not  separate  existences.  Not  only  are  matter  and  mind, 
soul  and  body  abstracts,  but  also  such  scientific  terms  as  atoms 
and  molecules,  and  also  religious  terms  such  as  God  and  world. 

Our  abstracts,  if  they  are  true,  represent  realities,  i.  e.  parts, 
or  features,  or  relations  of  the  world,  that  are  real,  but  they  never 
represent  things  in  themselves,  absolute  existences,  for  indeed 
there  are  no  such  things  as  absolute  entities.  The  All  being  one 
interconnected  whole,  everything  in  it,  every  feature  of  it,  every 
relation  among  its  parts  has  sense  and  meaning  and  reality  only  if 
considered  with  reference  to  the  whole.  In  this  sense  we  say  that 
monism  is  a  view  of  the  world  ss  a  unity. 

The  principle  of  Monism  is  the  unification  or  systematisation 
of  knowledge,  i.  e.  of  a  description  of  facts.  In  other  words  :  There 
is  but  one  truth,  two  or  several  truths  may  represent  different  and 
even  complementary  aspects  of  the  one  and  sole  truth,  but  they 
can  never  come  into  contradiction.  Wherever  a  contradiction  be- 
tween two  statements  appears,  both  of  which  are  regarded  as  true, 
it  is  sure  that  there  must  be  a  mistake  somewhere.  The  ideal  of 
science  remains  a  methodical  and  systematic  unification  of  state- 
ments of  facts,  which  shall  be  exhaustive,  concise,  and  free  from 
contradictions — in  a  word  the  ideal  of  science  is  MONISM. 

Monism,  as  represented  by  THE  MONIST,  is  a  statement  of  facts, 
and  in  so  far  as  it  is  a  statement  of  facts,  this  Monism  is  to  be  called 
POSITIVISM.  This  Positivism  however  is  different  from  Comtean 
Positivism,  which  latter  would  better  be  called  agnosticism  (see  The 
Afonist,  Vol.  ii,  No.  i,  p.  133-137).  There  is  a  mythology  of  science 
which  is  no  less  indispensable  in  the  realm  of  investigation  than  it 
is  in  the  province  of  religion,  but  we  must  not  forget  that  it  is  a 
means  only  to  an  end,  the  ideal  of  scientific  inquiry  and  of  the  mo- 
nistic philosophy  being  and  remaining  a  simple  statement  of  facts. 

Although  the  editorial  management  of  THE  MONIST  takes  a 
decided  and  well  defined  position  with  respect  to  the  most  im- 
portant philosophical  questions  of  the  day,  its  pages  are  neverthe- 
less not  restricted  to  the  presentation  of  any  one  special  view  or 
philosophy.  On  the  contrary,  they  are  open  to  contributors  of 
divergent  opinions  and  the  most  hostile  world-conceptions,  dual- 
istic  or  otherwise,  are  not  excluded. 


PRESS  NOTICES  ON  "THE  MONIST." 


"The  establishment  of  a  new  philosophical  quarterly  which 
may  prove  a  focus  for  all  the  agitation  of  thought  that  struggles 
to-day  to  illuminate  the  deepest  problems  with  light  from  modern 
science,  is  an  event  worthy  of  particular  notice." — The  Nation, 
New  York. 

"The  articles  are  of  the  highest  grade." — The  Inter  Ocean, 
Chicago. 

"No  one  who  wishes  to  keep  abreast  of  the  most  widely  ex- 
tended and  boldly  pushed  forward  line  of  philosophically  consid- 
ered science,  can  do  better  than  attempt  to  master  the  profound 
yet  lucid  studies  set  forth  in  The  Monist." — Ellis  Tburtell,  in  Ag- 
nostic Jottrnal. 

"  The  Monist  will  compete  most  dangerously  with  the  leading 
magazines  of  our  own  country. ...  The  Monist  is  decidedly  the 
morning  star  of  religious  liberalism  and  philosophical  culture." — 
Amos  Waters  in  Watts' 's  Literary  Guide,  London. 

"...  .demands  and  will  repay  the  attention  of  philosophical 
inquirers  and  thinkers." — Home  Journal,  New  York. 

"It  will  take  rank  among  the  best  publications  of  its  class. 
We  hope  that  it  will  receive  the  support  to  which  its  merits  cer- 
tainly entitle  it." — Evening  Journal,  Chicago. 

"It  is  both  a  solid  and  a  handsome  quarterly." — BrooklynEagle. 

"The  periodical  is  one  of  the  best  of  the  solid  publications  of 
the  kind  now  before  the  public.  The  articles  are  substantial, 
clever,  and  catching  in  subject." — Brighton  Guardian. 

"It  is  a  high-class  periodical." — Philadelphia  Press. 

"One  of  the  most  solid  serials  of  the  times.  All  will  be  in- 
clined to  give  a  cordial  welcome  to  this  addition  to  scientific  and 
philosophical  literature." — I\lanchester  Examiner. 

"  The  articles  are  admirable." — Glasgow  Herald. 

"The  subjects  are  treated  with  marked  ability." — Ulster 
Gazette,  Armaugh. 

"A  desideratum  in  the  department  of  philosophical  litera- 
ture."— Boston  Transcript. 

"We  welcome  it  to  our  homes  and  firesides." — San  Francisco 
Call. 

"  Its  merit  is  so  exceptional  that  it  is  likely  to  gain  a  national, 
even  a  European  recognition,  before  it  has  gained  a  local  one.  It 
deserves  to  be  widely  known." — The  Dial,  Chicago. 


"We  very  heartily  welcome  this  quarterly  as  a  great  help  in 
the  investigation  of  psychological  questions." — Boston  Herald. 

"The  Open  Court  and  The Monist  are  unusually  worthy  of  per- 
usal by  thinkers  in  the  various  departments  of  knowledge  and  re- 
search " — Dubuqiie  Trade  Jotirnal. 

"It  is  filled  from  cover  to  cover  with  choice  reading  matter  by 
some  of  the  most  noted  home  and  foreign  metaphysical  psycho- 
logical thinkers  and  writers  of  the  age." — Medical  Free  Press,  In- 
dianapolis. 

"  Every  reader  and  investigator  will  find  The  Monist  a  most 
valuable  and  attractive  periodical."  Milling  Wo--ld,  Buffalo. 

"  The  reader  will,  by  an  attentive  perusal  of  this  most  promis- 
ing magazine,  easily  bring  himself  au  courant  with  the  best  modern 
work  on  psychological  and  biological  questions.  The  magazine  de- 
serves to  take  that  established  and  authoritative  position  which  we 
very  cordially  wish  on  its  behalf." — Literary  World,  London. 

"  This  magazine  will  be  received  with  eagerness  in  the  closet 
of  many  a  student."  Hampshire  Chronicle,  Winchester. 

"The  Monist  is  first-class,  and  numbers  amongst  its  contrib- 
utors the  most  eminent  studen'.s  of  science  and  philosophy  in 
England  and  America.  There  is  no  better  journal  of  philosophy  in 
England." — Echo,  London. 

"  Those  with  a  taste  for  "solid  "  reading  will  find  their  desire 
gratified  here." — Leicester  Chronicle. 

"The  October  number  of  The  Monist  covers  a  wide  area,  and 
if  it  had  no  other  claim  upon  popular  favor  than  that  of  variety 
that  in  itself  ought  to  be  a  sufficient  guarantee  to  ensure  it  success. 
But  it  possesses  the  additional  recommendation  of  being  ably  and 
brightly  written." — Morning  Areuis,  Belfast. 

"The  journal  numbers  amongst  its  contributors  the  most 
eminent  students  of  science  and  philosophy  in  England  and  Amer- 
ica."— Sussex  Advertiser. 

"In  this  number  The  Monist  has  sustained  the  high  reputa- 
tion of  the  three  preceding  issues.  Two  things  are  necessary  to- 
constitute  a  good  quarterly,  able  contributors,  and  a  live  editor 
The  Monist  has  both.  The  articles  are  all  on  living  questions, 
practical  as  well  as  theoretical.  If  TJte  Monist  sustains  the  posi- 
tion already  reached,  it  will  be  indispensable  to  every  student  who 
wishes  to  keep  pace  with  current  thought." — The  Canadian  Meth- 
odist Quarterly. 


PUBLICATIONS 

OF  THE 

OPEN    COURT   PUB.   CO., 

169-175  LA  SALLE  STREET,  CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS. 


THREE  INTRODUCTORY  LECTURES  ON 
THE  SCIENCE  OF  THOUGHT.  By  F. 
MAX-MULLER.  (Sole  Agents  in  England:  Long- 
mans, Green,  &  Co.) 

i.  The  Simplicity  of  Language ;  2.  The  Identity  of  Language  and  Thought ; 
and  3.  The  Simplicity  of  Thought.  Cloth,  75  Cents. 

Prof.  F.  Mas  Mflller  sets  forth  his  view  of  the  identity  of  Language  and 
Thought,  which  is  a  further  development  of  Ludwig Moire's  theory  that  "man 
thinks  because  he  speaks."  Language  is  thought,  no  thought  is  possible  with- 
out some  symbols,  be  they  spoken  or  written  words. 

THREE  LECTURES  ON  THE  SCIENCE  OF 
LANGUAGE.  By  PROF.  F.  MAX  MULLER. 

With  a  Supplement  "  MY  PREDECESSORS."     Cloth,  75  Cents. 

Prof.  F.  Max  Muller  points  out  that  the  difference  between  man  and  animal 
isdue  to  language,  yet  there  is  no  mystery  in  language.  He  shows  the  origin  of 
language  as  developed  from  the  clamor  concomitans  of  social  beings  engaged 
in  common  work.  Thought  is  thicker  than  blood,  and  the  bonds  of  the  same 
language  and  the  same  ideas  are  stronger  than  of  family  and  race  relation. 

THE  PSYCHOLOGY  OF  ATTENTION.  By  TH. 
RIBOT.  (Sole  Agents  in  England  :  Longmans, 

Green,  &  Co.)  Authorised  Translation.    Cloth,  75  Cents. 

THE  DISEASES  OF  PERSONALITY.     By  TH. 

RlBOT.    Authorised  translation.    Cloth,  75  Cents. 

The  works  of  Th.  Ribot  explain  the  growth  and  nature  of  man's  soul. 
The  former  book,  "The  Psychology  of  Attention  "  is  an  exposition  of  the 
mechanism  of  concentrating  the  will  upon  a  special  object,  thus  showing  the 
cause  of  the  unity  of  the  soul  and  throwing  light  upon  the  nature  of  the  ego. 
The  latter  book,  "  The  Diseases  of  Personality  "  elucidates  the  hierarchical 
character  of  man's  psychic  life  which  rises  from  simple  beginnings  to  a  com- 
plex structure.  The  growth  of  personality  is  shown  by  an  analysis  of  its 
diseases,  and  its  evolution  is  set  forth  in  the  instances  of  its  dissolution. 


THE  PSYCHIC  LIFE  OF  MICRO-ORGAN- 
ISMS. By  ALFRED  BINET.  (Sole  Agents  in 
England:  Longmans,  Green,  &  Co.)  Authorised 

Translation.     Cloth,  75  Cents. 

A  special  fascination  is  attached  to  the  wonders  of  the  world  of  psychic  life 
in  a  drop  of  water.  It  is  astonishing  how  much  these  tiny  creatures  behave 
like  ourselves  ! 

ON  DOUBLE  CONSCIOUSNESS.  New  Studies 
in  Experimental  Psychology.  By  ALFRED  BINET. 

Price,  50  Cents. 

Our  conscious  life  is  only  part  of  our  soul's  existence.  There  are  sub- 
conscious and  even  unconscious  states  and  actions  taking  place  in  man  which 
are  of  a  psychic  nature.  M.  A.  Binet  gives  an  account  of  his  experiments  in 
this  field. 

EPITOMES  OF  THREE  SCIENCES. 

i.  COMPARATIVE  PHILOLOGY.     By  PROF.  H.  OLDENBERG. 

a.  COMPARATIVE  PSYCHOLOGY.     By  PROF.  J.  JASTROW. 

3.  OLD  TESTAMENT  HISTORY.  By  PROF.  C.  H.  CORNILL.  Cloth, 
75  Cents. 

The  present  state  of  our  knowledge  in  these  three  sciences,  so  important 
for  religious  thought,  is  presented  in  this  book  by  three  specialists. 

THE  ETHICAL  PROBLEM.  By  DR.  PAUL  CARUS. 

Three  Lectures  Delivered  at  the  Invitation  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  be- 
fore the  Society  for  Ethical  Culture  of  Chicago,  in  June,  1890.  Cloth,  50  Cents. 

The  Ethical  Problem  is  a  criticism  of  the  position  of  the  societies  for  eth- 
ical culture.  They  propose  to  preach  ethics  pure  and  simple  without  com- 
mitting themselves  to  any  world-conception  of  religion  or  philosophy.  It  is 
shown  here  that  our  views  of  morality  always  depend  upon  our  view  of  life  : 
every  definition  of  good  presupposes  a  certain  world-conception. 

THE  SOUL  OF  MAN.  An  Investigation  of  the 
Facts  of  Physiological  and  Experimental  Psy- 
chology. By  DR.  PAUL  CARUS. 

With  152  illustrative  cuts  and  diagrams.    474  pp.     Cloth,  $3.00. 

This  book  elucidates  first  the  philosophical  problem  of  mind,  showing 
that  mind  is  not  motion  but  the  subjective  state  of  awareness  accompanying 
certain  motions  of  the  brain.  It  describes  the  physiological  facts  of  the  ner- 
vous system  and  the  experiments  of  hypnotism,  and  after  a  discussion  of  the 
Nature  of  Thought,  Consciousne  s,  Pleasure,  and  Pain,  it  presents  the  eth- 
ical and  religious  conclusions  derived  from  these  considerations. 


THE  IDEA  OF  GOD.     By  DR.  PAUL  CARUS. 

A  disquisition  upon  the  development  of  the  idea  of  God.  Paper,  15  Cents. 

The  different  conceptions  of  God  (Polytheism,  Monotheism,  Pantheism, 
and  Atheism)  are  discussed  and  God  is  denned  as  the  moral  law  of  the  world 
which  is  recognised  as  the  authority  in  accord  with  which  we  have  to  regulate 
our  conduct.  This  view  is  called  Entheism. 

FUNDAMENTAL   PROBLEMS.     By  DR.   PAUL 
CARUS.     (Sole  Agents  in  England:   Longmans, 

Green,  &  CO.)    Second  Edition.     Keviseil  and  Enlarged. 
Cloth,  $1.50. 

Monistic  Positivism,  as  presented  in  Fundamental  Problems,  starts  from 
facts,  and  aims  at  a  unitary  conception  of  facts.  Knowledge  is  a  description 
of  facts  in  mental  symbols.  Sensations  are  the  data  of  experience  yet  the 
formal  aspect  of  facts  is  recognised  in  its  all-important  significance.  Agnos* 
ticism  is  rejected,  and  the  ethical  importance  of  a  positive  world-conception 
insisted  upon.  The  appendix  consists  of  a  number  of  discussions  in  which 
the  author  considers  all  the  objections  made  by  critics  of  many  different 
standpoints. 

HOMILIES  OF  SCIENCE.     By  DR.  PAUL  CARUS. 

Gilt  Top.     Elegantly  Bound.     $1.50. 

Short  ethical  exhortations  and  sermon-like  discussions  of  religious,  moral, 
social,  and  political  topics  made  from  a  standpoint  which  might  briefly  be 
characterised  The  Religion  of  Science. 

WHEELBARROW.   ARTICLES  AND  DISCUS- 
SIONS ON  THE  LABOR  QUESTION. 

Cloth,  $1.00 

This  book  is  written  by  Gen.  M.  M.  Trumbull  and  contains  the  very  life- 
blood  of  his  experiences.  It  is  a  collection  of  articles  and  discussions  on  the 
labor  problem,  and  as  the  author  has  worked  for  many  years  as  an  unskilled 
laborer,  he  has  a  right  to  be  heard  and  indeed  his  views  are  liberal  as  well  as 
just  and  are  nowhere  lacking  in  a  healthy  moral  spirit. 

THE  LOST  MANUSCRIPT.  A  Novel.   By  GUSTAV 

FREYTAG.      Authorised  translation.     Elegantly  bound,  (4.00.     In 
one  volume  bound  in  cloth,  good  paper,  Si.oo. 

The  author  writes  as  a  motto  for  the  American  edition  : 
"A  noble  human  life  does  not  end  on  earth  with  death.     It  continues  in 
the  minds  and  the  deeds  of  friends,  as  well  as  in  the  thoughts  and  the  activity 
of  the  nation." 

Gustav  Freytag  did  not  write  his  novel  with  the  intention  of  teaching  psy- 
chology or  preaching  ethics.  But  the  impartial  description  of  life  does  teach 
ethics,  and  every  poet  is  a  psychologist  in  the  sense  that  he  portrays  human 
souls.  This  is  pre-eminently  true  of  Gustav  Freytag  and  his  novel  "  The  Lost 
Manuscript." 


C33 


THE  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Santa  Barbara 


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